Vandread: Mobius
by The Emerald's Edge
Summary: Mobius 1, the greatest fighter pilot the world has ever seen and hero of the Erusian war. After destroying the superweapon Megalith finds himself transported to the Vandread world far off into the future to fight another war against a dangerous enemy.
1. Prologue

This is an idea thought of about a year ago by Vader23A and myself. It took us a while to decide it, but we finally decided to go along with it. My part will be Ace Combat 4/Vandread crossover, Vader will be doing an Ace Combat 5 crossover and our friend 1st Lieutenant Fae will be doing an Ace Combat 0 cross over.

Hope you enjoy.

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><p>For years the world was at peace, but due to a single disaster that peace was shattered.<p>

In the year 1999, a massive asteroid codenamed Ulysses 1994 XF-04, struck the country of Usea, killing half a million people and turning many into refugees. Seeing this as a great opportunity the country Erusea launched an attack to declare war on the rest of the nations.

They used their superior air force to neutralize any attempt their enemies made to defend themselves and with their super weapon Stonehenge, a massive mega structure battery of railguns, originally made for destroying asteroids before they entered the Earth's atmosphere. They were able to annihilate entire enemy squadrons in a single shot.

Thanks to this mega structure, any and all hope the victim countries had were crushed. But even in the face of these impossible odds an organization stood firm in defiance.

The Independent States Allied Forces' or ISAF had continued to fight against the Erusians winning small battles, but failing to force back their enemies.

Due to Stonehenge the ISAF forces eventually had been pushed back to a single airbase at the edge of a mountain range.

During one fateful day the tide of the war began to change.

It was all due to a single fighter pilot known only as Mobius 1, he was just another pilot at the time, recruited to help fight against the Erusians, but no one could've foreseen his real abilities as a pilot.

During several missions Mobius 1 had not only succeeded in the face of overwhelming odds, but he still managed to destroy all enemy targets in his path and save most of his allies.

Mobius 1 continuously climbed in popularity and fame, quickly becoming recognized across the world by both sides of the conflict. During one mission where the ISAF forces were to protect a space research facility from Erusian forces Mobius 1 gained his first recognition by being the only pilot to cause damage to a member of the top squadron in the Erusian Air Force.

Yellow Squadron was comprised of the best trained pilots in the world, none of them had ever been shot down, as a matter of fact during the course of the war none of them had even sustained the tiniest bit of damage, they were the best, completely feared by their enemies once they showed up.

During that one mission Mobius 1 had managed to get a single missile to connect on a member of Yellow Squadron, surprised by this the leader of Yellow squad, Yellow 13 ordered his squadron to retreat from the battle.

Once the elite squadron pulled out the victory was guaranteed for the ISAF forces and the tide officially changed for the first time.

From that moment Mobius 1 continued to raise through the ranks until the day he single handedly brought down the mega structure Stonehenge. Once the massive super weapon was destroyed Yellow Squadron appeared and although they were too late to affect the battle they still engaged Mobius 1 in combat which ended when Mobius 1 shot down Yellow 4, Yellow 13's closest friend and lover.

Once Yellow 4 was shot down, the other members of Yellow Squadron fled the battle, in complete disbelief that one of their members had fallen.

It was by the events of that day alone that the Erusian officials became desperate; realizing that the scales had tipped against them they unleashed everything they had to stop the ISAF forces once and for all, but nothing they did was good enough. Mobius 1 was always there, he was just too much for the enemy to stand against.

During the final battle of the war, the siege of the Erusian capital city of Farbanti, Yellow squadron was once again defeated by Mobius 1, this time Yellow 13 himself was shot down and killed.

Even though the ISAF forces had captured the Erusian capital city, Intel revealed that there was still one major threat to deal with before they could truly claim victory.

Erusea had built another mega structure, another super weapon on a lone island in the middle of the Erusian Ocean, its name. Megalith.

The time had finally come to end the war and bring back peace to the world. Given his own squadron to command Mobius 1 led 9 other pilots all of them the best remaining pilots ISAF could offer in a final assault on the Erusian war machine.

Upon arriving in the airspace around Megalith Mobius squadron began their final preparations.

"Skyeye here" the pilot of the AWACS said over the radios "All Mobius aircraft report in".

"Mobius 2 on standby" the 2nd in command of the squadron said.

"Mobius 3 through 7 on standby"

"Mobius 8 and 9 on standby"

Once all pilots confirmed that they were ready to begin Mobius 1 flew ahead of the squad and led them into battle at the order of Skyeye. "Preparations complete, ready for battle. All aircraft follow Mobius 1".

The 10 fighter squadron flew at top speed toward Megalith more than ready to put an end to this war at last, but they still had one more challenge to overcome before they could get that chance.

A squadron comprised entirely of the remaining members of Yellow squadron was there to meet them, over 20 fighters all of them with the skills of an elite pilot.

In a last ditch effort to put down the ISAF forces the remaining Yellow pilots intercepted Mobius squadron, but ultimately failed as they were shot down one by one.

Once the final Yellow was shot down Mobius 1 alone entered Megalith and destroyed each of its three generators one by one giving the ground forces that infiltrated the mega structure the opening they needed to gain control of the main control room.

Once the outside panels were open, Mobius 1 had a clear shot at each of the V1 rockets that were hidden within the superstructure as well as the lone V2 that was hidden deep within Megalith itself.

Once Mobius 1 destroyed the several V1 rockets he flew to the front end of the base and lowered his airspeed and altitude, flying into the narrow shaft that would lead him straight to the V2 rocket.

The shaft was just big enough for him to level his fighter giving him just enough space to fly straight ahead toward the rocket that could easily wipe out an entire city.

Once within range of the V2, Mobius 1 fired two missiles right at the rocket's warhead destroying it before flying out from the top of the shaft, just seconds before the facility began to explode.

Through the smoke cloud of the destroyed structure Mobius 1 flew high into the sky before leveling his F-22 Raptor fighter jet and flying at the front end of the remaining members of his squadron.

With the war finally over Mobius 1 split off from his squadron in a way that is performed in a Missing Man formation before flying beyond the horizon and fading from all radar coverage with only Skyeye's words echoing "Heroes really do exist".

Once he was behind the horizon and far away from his former allies Mobius 1 set the auto pilot for his fighter and leaned back in his pilot's seat, able to finally breathe easy now that the war was finally over. But for him another one was soon to start.

Not too long after he set the autopilot, an asteroid came flying down from the sky crashing into the ocean, but its shear size and the force of it coming down sent Mobius 1's F-22 into a tailspin.

Quickly sitting back up Mobius 1 tried to regain control of his fighter, but none of the systems were responding and he was heading right for the ocean.

Reaching under his pilot's seat Mobius 1 gripped the handle that would pop off the canopy of his fighter before sending off a distress beacon. Once he was ready to pull the eject lever a second asteroid crashed down not too far away from him in a massive light bluish green light that consumed the F-22 and its pilot before sending them somewhere that no one could've ever dreamed of.

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><p><strong>AN.** And that's the prologue chapter, really I hope you liked it because I sure enjoyed writing it.

This as been an idea a year in the making now let's see if we can keep it going.


	2. Misplaced Ace

"Where the hell am I?" a man groaned from the pilot's seat of a damaged F-22 fighter jet.

Holding his hand up to his cracked helmet the pilot of the fighter jet groaned again as he recalled what happened to him before he blacked out.

"Those asteroids" he muttered "And that light".

Feeling a massive throbbing pain in the side of his head the pilot grunted quietly as he moved his hand back and felt something warm and wet.

Moving his hand back in front of him his eyes zeroed in on a stain of fresh blood on his hand. "Fantastic" he muttered to himself.

Activating his jet's radio he flipped the communication switch and called out "Eagle Eye this is Mobius 1 do you copy?"

Static was the only response. "I repeat, this is I.S.A.F fighter pilot Mobius 1 to any friendly I.S.A.F units in the area. I was forced into an emergency landing in the ocea…"

Mobius 1's words trailed off. "I crashed into the ocean" he muttered to himself "I should be dead right now…Where am I?"

Finally looking out of his fighter's canopy the pilot's eyes widened when he saw what was in front of him.

"A…planet?" he gasped "I'm in space? Impossible".

Sure enough, far ahead of him and his fight jet was a planet. It wasn't much to look at, it seemed to be nothing more than a desert world and its atmosphere didn't even seem capable of supporting life.

"What am I supposed to do now?" Mobius 1 asked himself before his radio picked up a transmission.

"This mach battle will not only demonstrate the many capabilities of the Van-types, but also prove the strength of the might Tarak Empire"

"Tarak Empire?" Mobius 1 muttered to himself "What the hell is going on here?"

Turning his attention to his flight controls, the fighter pilot was relieved to see his jet's systems were still active, but was quite confused to see that his engine was still operational in the void of space.

"I'll have to figure that out later" he concluded "For now I need to try and make contact with these people".

Starting the fighter's engines, Mobius 1 locked his eyes on a large fleet flying above the planet ahead of him and his instincts told him that there was going to be trouble, but he had little choice at this point.

Closing in on the fleet ahead of him, Mobius 1 heard the ping of his radar which began showing many unidentified hits behind a large unmoving asteroid. "Here we go" the pilot muttered.

Turns out Mobius' gut feeling was right, a second fleet appeared from behind the large asteroid and started attacking the fleet in front of him.

An intercepted radio transmission had a panicked voice "We are under attack, cancel the exhibition. Scramble all pilots for a counter attack"

"What's going on?" another voice asked.

The panicked voice continued "It's the women they're attacking!"

"The women are attacking?" Mobius repeated "What is that supposed to mean?"

The first fleet's flagship opened its hangers and many humanoid shaped ships poured out of it to defend their fleet from the attack.

Slowing his fighter to a halt Mobius watched the humanoid machines attack the strange fighters from the opposite fleet "Maybe I should just hang back for a bit" Mobius felt a strong throbbing pain in his head and immediately hunched over gripping the front of his helmet with both hands grunting loudly.

"We are taking heavy damage we can't hold out for much longer!" the same panicked voice cried over the radio "Prime Minister!"

"Attention all Vanguard units! Unidentified ship lingering at coordinates Alpha 23, 17 assume hostile and destroy it".

Hearing the warning alarms in his cockpit go off, Mobius shot himself back to a sitting position and turned his fighter just in time to avoid an attack by one of the human shaped machines.

"That's not good" the I.S.A.F pilot muttered seeing several of the human machines flying toward him.

Flying straight past the first enemy Mobius easily flew between them and led them back into the battle trying to bait them into attacking each other. "I didn't do anything to these people why are they attacking me?"

Failing to shake his attackers, Mobius had no other choice. If they would not cease their attacks on him he would have to fight back.

"So be it" Mobius muttered before he made a sharp turn and fired a single missile at one of his pursuers hitting the human shaped machine in its chest.

"The unknown craft shot down one of the Van-types!" a voice cried over the radio "All pilots destroy the unknown hostile".

"Perfect" Mobius growled as the other human shaped machines started attacking him as well.

Leading a small group of enemies on a chase through the battle, Mobius easily evaded each of their attacks as if they weren't even firing at him before he turned around to shoot them down himself.

"Do these things even have pilots?" he asked himself seeing how horribly the machines were flying "I've seen I.S.A.F rookies who can fly better than that".

Spotting what looked like a spear tip fighter jet, Mobius watched several of the human shaped machines grab onto the red fighter trying to force it out of formation.

"The enemy of my enemy" Mobius said as he turned to pursue the red spear head shaped fighter "I still feel like I'm going to regret this later on".

"Ah! What are these things? They're getting in my way" a female voice cried over the radio.

"Don't worry about the Vanguards" another female voice ordered this one sounded cold and emotionless. "Just concentrate on the enemy flagship".

"What is that? That's not a Vanguard!" the first female voice said seeing Mobius' F-22 flying along side her before it slowed down and got behind her.

"Come on keep steady" Mobius muttered as he waited for his targeting system to acquire the human machines latched on to the red fighter. "There we go" he cried silently using his index finger to pull the trigger on his flightstick, firing the machine guns of his fighter.

The guns of the F-22 fired faster in the void of space quickly tearing through the armor of the human shaped machines forcing them off of the red fighter.

After shooting the enemies off of his temporary ally, Mobius accelerated and turned away from the red fighter before turning his attention to what he assumed to be the enemy's flagship.

"Pay back time" Mobius growled diving toward the hull of the enemy flagship and firing two missiles before pulling away.

"You think that one's on our side?" the same female voice asked over the radio after seeing Mobius attack the enemy flagship.

"It's possible, but we can't let our guard down just continue the mission" the emotionless female voice ordered.

"We've breached the hull boarding team move in" a female voice cried after the hull of the flagship was blown open.

"We can't" a panicked voice replied "The Vanguards are forming a wall around the hole".

Mobius activated the microphone in his flight helmet "I don't know who you all are, but we're working toward the same end here. You agree to not fire on me and I'll help you out. Deal?"

"That voice" one of the female pilots said "Is that a man?"

A new voice, also female, but strong and commanding answered Mobius "We'll agree to your proposal for now. But just so you know we're not here to make any friends".

"Really?" Mobius replied in a carefree tone "And here I thought trying to kill someone was your way of saying hello. I'll be sure to stay out of your way once this is over".

Flying head on toward the line of Vanguards protecting their flagship, Mobius switched to his special weapons reserve and fired four XMAA missiles before immediately switching back to his regular missiles and firing two missiles at another two, successfully wiping out the entire defensive line.

"Splash all targets, cleared to move in" Mobius announced before following one of his temporary allies into the flagship.

Watching the blue fighter ahead of his crash through the flagship, Mobius slowed his speed to better navigate through the tight spaces.

"I can't stop!" the pilot of the out of control blue fighter cried. A young, panicked female voice.

"Pilot respond" Mobius requested after watching the blue fighter crash through the halls ahead of him. "Repeat; pilot respond. What's your status?" Hearing his cockpit's warning alarm Mobius looked up and immediately threw his flightstick to the left to avoid colliding with a wall.

"Dammit, there's not enough room to turn around!" Mobius yelled "I have to try and land" he said to himself, slowing his airspeed and lowering his landing gear.

"Alright" he muttered "Landing gear, check. Course, not like I have a choice. Let's do this".

Slowly tilting his fighter's nose downward, Mobius steered his fighter into a landing position before pulling up and allowing the back wheels to touchdown before he set his fighter back into a level position.

"Almost" Mobius muttered as he waited for his fighter to slow to a halt.

The warning alarms in his cockpit went off signaling an emergency. Immediately looking over his shoulder Mobius saw another of the strange fighters speeding toward him.

"Holy hell!" he yelled as he ducked his head down and covered himself, just as the fighter zoomed over his F-22 and crashed through the wall ahead of him.

Looking up, Mobius sighed as he looked back over his shoulder and saw no damage to his fighter "Too close, I need to get out".

Opening the canopy to his fighter, Mobius jumped out and heard the sound of gunfire in the room that the other fighter crashed through and unholstered his Beretta M9 handgun and took cover behind some of the debris.

"What the hell?" Mobius muttered seeing the strange flightsuits the pilots were wearing "What kind of space suit is that?"

The two pilots were in a very bulky, think leathered flightsuit with helmets that looked like steel monster faces, definitely an unusual sight.

Watching the two pilots duck out of their cover, they held their right arms up toward a window and fired a single laser like beam from their fist at a single guard who was hiding behind the window.

"Lasers?" Mobius asked himself "Perfect".

Spotting a single man with what looked like some kind of assault rifle in his hands trying to sneak around the two pinned down pilots; Mobius made a decision and decided to take the side that didn't attack him.

Once the lone solider was close enough, Mobius bolted out from his cover and grabbed the soldier's arm and pushed it up toward the air before thrusting his knee into his stomach and then bringing the handle of his handgun down on his head after he hunched over.

After knocking out the lone soldier, Mobius took cover next to one of the pinned down pilots. "How ya doin'?" he asked surprising the pilot.

"What?" the pilot gasped. The voice was female "Where'd you come from? Are you a man?"

"I'm the pilot that helped you get in here" Mobius answered "And yes I'm a man, don't see why my gender would matter at a time like this, but I'm not going to ask questions. We're pinned down and won't be going anywhere unless we work together".

"Forget it" the pilot told him "I'm not working with a man".

The pilot ducked out of her cover to fire her laser, but a bullet grazed her arm and she flinched leaving her open for another shot.

"Get down!" Mobius barked pulling her back behind cover "Still think you don't need my help?" he asked her "Listen I really have no idea what's going on here, but whatever it is the fact of the matter is we're just going to be sitting ducks here unless we can move and move fast. If you have any allies nearby we need to get to them before the enemy surrounds us".

The female pilot didn't respond, she remained silent, but Mobius could tell even through her flightmask she was sizing him up.

Mobius quickly peeked his head over their cover to check the area. "Listen!" he yelled ducking back down just as a bullet flew by his helmet "If you think you can keep them focused on this spot I should be able to sneak around and take them out".

The pilot harshly rejected his offer "Forget it, I'm not trusting my life to a man, I don't care how bad the situation is".

Mobius shook his head "What the hell did I do to deserve this?" he asked himself before looking back at the pilot "Well good luck to you then, I'm out of here".

Staying crouched, Mobius quickly made his way around the crashed fighter and to a staircase against the wall, making sure the two hostiles in the window were focused on the pinned down pilots until he reached the door.

Finally reaching the door, Mobius reached for the handle, but stopped and made one last look back over his shoulder. "I'm going to regret this" he said "I'm going to regret this in a big way".

Letting go of the door handle, Mobius continued to ascend the staircase and circled around behind the two men who had the pilots pinned down. Kicking open the door, Mobius grabbed the soldier near him and used him as a shield while he shot the second guard twice in the chest.

Once the first guard dropped to the floor, Mobius released the guard he restrained and immediately slammed the handle of his gun into the back of his head knocking him out.

Standing at the shattered window Mobius looked down to the pilots and yelled "All clear, you're welcome" before turning around and exiting through a door next to him.

Once he stepped through the doorway a laser was fired and the shot missed his helmet by a mere inch.

Mobius froze and looked at the one who shot at him, another woman.

"Don't move" she ordered "Drop your weapon and get in the group with the rest of them".

Mobius shook his head "Yeah I don't see that happening. In case you forgot I'm the one who cleared the way for you to get in here in the first place".

"There's a good question" another female voice said to his left.

Looking to his left, Mobius watched as another two pilots removed their monster shaped flightsuits, both of them were women. The first was the same height as Mobius and wore a pretty revealing black dress. She had blonde hair that reached down to her waist line, for all of her curves and features however, Mobius immediately zeroed in on her green eyes.

The other was a bit shorter and wore a gray flightsuit; her hair was light blue and separated in style. The front hung just over her eyes in a spiky pattern while the rest of her hair was straightened back in a fan style that stopped just past her ears, again Mobius immediately zeroed in on the eyes of this one. The look in her eyes showed a cold expression.

"So why did you help us?" the blonde haired one asked Mobius.

Mobius kept his eyes on the two pilots next to him "Those strange machines attacked me unprovoked" he told her "I saw they were attacking you as well. There's an old saying, the enemy of my enemy is my friend. And whoever these guys are, they're definitely my enemy".

The blonde haired woman rested her hands against her hips "Is that so? You make it sound so simple. I'm actually surprised a man is helping us".

Just then the two pinned down pilots that Mobius helped walked into the room "Whatever his reasons are he's still a man. I say we throw him into the escape pod with the rest and get rid of them" one of them said. Considering she was holding her left arm, it must've been the same one Mobius saved from getting shot.

"Nice to see you to" Mobius retaliated in an aggravated tone "You still haven't thanked me for saving your ass back there".

"I didn't ask for your help!" the woman barked.

"Barnette that's enough" the blue haired woman demanded "Have Paiway look at your injury. As for you" she continued shifting her eyes to Mobius "Get in line with the rest of them".

"I'm pretty sure I've made my position on that matter clear" Mobius said to her "I'm not getting in that group". Mobius paused to look around at everyone in the room with him "You ladies have a real problem with thanking someone who helped you".

"Wait where's Dita?" the one called Barnette asked, taking off her flightsuit.

A girl just as tall as the one with blue hair, this one had dark green hair and violet eyes. She also wore a pretty revealing outfit only this one was a skin tight flightsuit that only covered between her legs and up her sides and abdomen, splitting off just around her breast.

"Wasn't she with you?" the blonde haired one asked her.

The green haired pilot shook her head "Last I saw she was crashing through the halls screaming her head off".

"This Dita" Mobius began catching their attention "Does she fly that blue fighter? Bulky on the sides and flies pretty clumsily?"

"You know where she is?" the blonde haired pilot asked him.

Mobius slightly nodded "I have a pretty good idea. You agree to stop threatening me and I'll take you to where her ship is".

"You're still offering to help us?" she asked him.

"More or less" Mobius said to her "As long as you don't attack me I have no reason to not help you, follow me" he told her before he walked out of the room and back to the giant hall where he landed his F-22.

"I had to land here, around that corner down there" he pointed at the place where he flew his fighter through "That's the last place I saw you're pilot, I tried contacting her before I landed, but I didn't get a response".

The blue haired pilot looked over her shoulder "Jura let's go".

The blonde haired pilot nodded "Alright I'll follow you".

"Well I hope you find her" Mobius said "As for me I'm getting out of here".

"You're not going anywhere!" the blue haired pilot snapped "I still don't trust you, so I'm not letting you out of my sight".

Mobius felt a twinge of pain just above his left eye and grunted as he placed his hand on his helmet "Fine, but just make it quick so I can leave already".

Following the two pilots down the hall, it didn't take long for them to find the missing pilot, watching from a balcony they saw a young red haired girl chasing a young man, probably in his teens over a pile of rubble, cheerfully yelling for him to wait up and stop running.

"That your pilot?" Mobius asked.

"You see that Meia" the blonde haired one asked "She's chasing a man".

"Jura let's go, we don't have time" the other pilot said jumping down from the walkway and running over to the red haired girl before tackling her to the ground.

"She's quite the authority figure isn't she?" Mobius asked.

The blonde haired one, Jura looked over to him "So why exactly are you so willing to help us? You don't seem too worried that we'll attack you as well".

"I'm hoping that won't happen, but I'm prepared for it" Mobius admitted "You all seem really hostile toward men and I don't really know why, all that matters to me is getting out of here, finding out how the hell I got into space and then getting back to Earth…if at all possible".

"Earth?" the blonde pilot asked "Why would you want to go there?"

Before Mobius could answer, Meia yelled up to Jura "Jura we need to leave the main section of the flagship is preparing a missile and their targeting us".

"Fantastic" Mobius growled before turning around "Good luck to you I'm getting out of here".

Not waiting for the women to follow him, Mobius quickly ran back to his F-22 and climbed back into the pilot's seat. "Alright, looks like they've all cleared out of the room ahead of me, that's good cause my only way out is to blast through".

Preparing his missiles to fire at the wall ahead of him, Mobius felt a massive surge of pain in his forehead and grunted loudly as he hunched over with his hands grasping at his helmet. The pain immediately grew worse, it felt like a giant nail was being forced through his temple and wiggled around.

"Dita!" he heard a voice gasp over the radio.

"We can't wait any longer we have to go" another voice replied.

"Someone help me!" a panicked voice cried just as the pain in Mobius' head spiked and vanished.

Mobius was breathing heavily, the pain in his head was completely gone, but for some reason he felt like he was falling. Painfully opening his eyes, he saw the three female pilots and the boy the red haired girl was chasing. They were all falling into an endless liquid like, blue light.

"_What is this? Are we going to die here?"_


	3. I Am Mobius 1

Far across the galaxy, a massive light erupted from the void of space only to vanish just as quickly as it appeared, leaving behind only two ships half engulfed by a strange crystal.

On the bridge of the dark red ship the bridge hands and their captain were just shaking off the effects of whatever just happened to them.

"What was that just now?" one of them asked.

"This doesn't look like the after life" the aged captain said from her seat behind them all "Just where are we?"

The ship started shaking, and the crystal that engulfed both ships started spreading across both of them as they were drawn closer to each other.

"What the?" the captain grunted "Is the crystal trying to eat the ship or something?"

On the larger, damaged ship two pilots were lying on the floor in the main platform of the ship.

Both of them were slowly coming to "Jura?" the one with blue hair muttered as she pushed herself up onto her knees.

"I'm alright" the blonde haired girl replied, raising to a sitting position, also covering half her face with her hand "What about Dita?"

"I'm here!" a clumsy, cheery voice called to them. A few yards behind them, a red haired girl with a few dust scarps on her face had a foolish smile on her face while she lay on the ground "Something went, bang! And then boom! And I don't know what happened. Alien power is amazing huh?"

"Where are we?" the blonde haired woman asked "The last thing I remember, we were on the men's ship about to leave. And then a light swallowed us and".

"We were falling" the blue haired one finished "Us and those two men".

"That's pretty spooky" the blonde said "These crystals covering everything make it hard to recognize, but this is the same ship we were just on right? It felt like we were falling for a while, but I don't remember hitting the ground or even leaving it for that matter".

Seeing a small ship dock on the platform, the three women walked over to it just as a ramp slid down and the door opened. "My, this place sure could use a good cleaning" the aged captain said as she walked down the ramp.

The blue haired pilot looked at her captain and lowered her head "I'm sorry about all this captain, you had to come all this way".

The aged captain dismissed her apology "There's no need to apologize Meia. I just wanted to see this with my own eyes".

Stopping next to an unconscious boy with raven colored hair, the blue haired pilot, Meia said "This is the man that Dita was chasing".

"It's been so long since I've last seen a man" the captain said "Were their faces really this funny looking?" she asked seeing the strange way the unconscious boy's face set in.

Hearing a loud thud from the other side of the platform, the captain and her escort as well as the three pilots watched a broken support beam fall and slide down a pile of debris while a man in a torn and ripped flightsuit stood at the top of the debris pile.

"My, he looks a little worse for wear" the captain noted, seeing the shape of the man's flightsuit.

Meia told her captain about him "That's the man that helped Barnette while she was pinned down; he also showed us where to find Dita before the missile impacted the ship".

"Oh?" the captain muttered "He helped you huh? Maybe he's the same one who attacked Tarak with us".

The man atop the debris pile cautiously took a step down the debris, but immediately lost his footing and began rolling down until he slammed into the fallen support beam. Quickly getting back to his feet the pilot limped around the fallen beam and braced himself against a wall as he walked over to the woman ahead of him. He was limping on his right leg and everytime he would step down with his left, he knee seemed to buckle, he really must've gotten banged up.

Once the pilot was closer they could see one of his eyes through the big crack in his flight helmet. Stopping to lean against the wall, the pilot slowly raised his hands up to his helmet and twisted it to the side a bit before he pulled it off and dropped it at his feet.

He had fairly tanned skin and a moderate athletic build, his hair was pitch black and his eyes were two different colors. His left eye was brown and his right was blue.

The pilot leaned against the wall for a short minute before pushing himself off it and looking at the group of women in front of him.

"So" he began with a blank expression "Satan walks into this bar". Once the pilot finished his line, his eyes rolled back into his head and he fell forward exhausted and unconscious.

Inside a prison cell, the young boy, the unconscious pilot and another man were waiting for whatever was going to happen to them.

"My name is Duelo Mcfile" the one in the shadowed corner said to the other two "Do you have a name as?" he asked the boy at the other side of the cell "Mr. Third class citizen".

"Don't make fun of me!" the boy demanded "My name is Hibiki Tokai. And I'm not just another third class citizen".

"You're the one that cause the ruckus at the ceremony right?" the young man in the corner asked. His long hair split at the right side of his face, it covered the entire right side of his face stopping just below his chin while the back side of his hair went down past his shoulder.

Before the boy could answer, the pilot lying on the floor grunted painfully as he began pushing himself up. "My head" he groaned placing his hand against his face "Must've had one helluva party".

Watching the young man get off the floor and into a sitting position, the one named Duelo said "You shouldn't move around too much".

The pilot turned around to look at Duelo "Who are you?"

"My name is Duelo Mcfile. I'm a doctor and I think you might have a minor skull fracture as well as a concussion. If you move around too much you'll only worsen your injury".

The pilot immediately felt a surge of pain in his head and placed his hand against it, the doctor was right. He could feel a small dent in his skull; he could fell the cracked bone that was his skull dented inward. "I still think that one hangover I had was more painful" he said before setting himself against a wall.

"So who are you?" Duelo asked him "By the way you're dressed I'd say you're a pilot of some sort, but your uniform isn't from Tarak".

"A pilot?" the man muttered before another surge of pain rushed through his head. Placing his hand against his face again the pilot hunched over "A pilot?" he grunted to himself. "I…I remember, a massive structure on an island in the ocean, some kind of super weapon".

Duelo narrowed his visible eye and held up his hand "Tell me how many fingers you see".

The pilot looked over to him and tried to focus his blurred and shaking vision "Two, I think. Everything is fuzzy right now".

"Good" Duelo said lowering his hand "Blurred vision is normal after suffering a concussion, it doesn't look too bad right now, but I still think you should take it easy for now, tell me do you remember your name?"

The pilot shook his head "No. All I remember is some kind of massive structure on an island, a super weapon and then a bright light".

Duelo narrowed his eye again _"An island and a massive structure?"_ he thought.

"Ah! Women!" Hibiki cried as a small group of women stood in front of the cell.

"Well looks like you're all awake" the one if front said. She was pretty tall for someone who looked so young, her skin was dark and her platinum colored hair reached down to her waist "We have a few questions for you, you'll come with us won't you?" she asked, as if she was giving them a choice.

"Sure" the injured pilot groaned as he braced himself against the wall and pushed himself up "Lead the way".

The woman in front, clearly the leader of the group deactivated the bars of the cell and tossed each of the three men a pair of cuffs that had a strong elastic band in the center.

"Put them on and follow me" she ordered.

"You do this to all your boyfriends or are we just special?" the young pilot asked in an unconcerned tone as he slid his hands into the cuffs.

After the three men slid their cuffs on, they followed the woman and her group of guards down the hall and to an elevator.

Once the elevator started moving, the injured pilot took a wobbly step forward and grunted silently as he placed his hand against his head.

"Is something wrong?" the platinum haired woman asked him in a semi-harsh tone.

"Nothing" the pilot grunted as he straightened himself.

Once the elevator opened, the woman led the group down another hall.

"Where exactly are you taking us?" Duelo asked.

"Nowhere special" the woman told him blankly "Like I said we just have some questions is all".

"As long as there's a place to sit down, I don't care where we're going" the injured pilot said before stumbling to the side and bracing himself against the wall.

"Having trouble standing?" the woman asked him.

"He has a concussion and a minor skull fracture" Duelo told her "Its only natural that he'd be dizzy and disoriented. It would be best for him to rest once we get to wherever you're taking us".

"Some water would be lovely" the pilot groaned gently pushing himself off the wall "Good to go".

The woman continued to lead them down the hall until they came to an open door that led into what looked like a small longue.

Seeing a couch in the middle of the room, Duelo looked over to the pilot behind him "It'd be best if you laid down for a while, staying at a vertical position wouldn't be wise since you keep getting dizzy".

"Right" the pilot muttered clumsily as he awkwardly walked over to the couch and laid on it while Duelo and Hibiki sat on the floor in front of it just as a blue haired woman entered through another door with another man restrained next to her.

"What's up?" the platinum haired woman asked "You found another?"

The other woman nodded "Yes. This was hiding in the platform".

The restrained man had a sheepish smile on his face "Hey comrades" he muttered "What's up?"

Just then an old woman entered the room from the same door "My I heard you captured some prisoners, but they're all just kids".

"Hey!" a small, white, egg shaped robot shrieked "Its interrogation time. I'll tell you everything!"

"My how nostalgic" the old woman said "It's a NAVI robot".

"A what?" the injured pilot groaned as his eyelids grew heavier before closing.

"I'm not following here" Duelo said.

"Yeah, isn't this supposed to be a men's ship?" Hibiki asked.

"Yes" the old woman answered "And before that it was used for colonization. This old ship was one from a large fleet that left from a planet called Earth to colonize other worlds. Of course this happened a very long time ago before your fathers were even born. Unfortunately your cowardly grandfather severed the section and ran away into the night".

The small, egg shaped robot pitched in "They over hauled the old battleship and added residential quarters".

"And now we find ourselves back on this old battleship" the old lady continued "This is our business you see, so we'll gladly take the ship, but the question is what should we do with the four of you?"

"We should get rid of them" the blue haired woman said "Things are already unstable enough".

"There's no need to be hasty Meia" the old lady told her "Maybe we should consider how we're going to cook these fellows up".

The blue haired girl, Meia forced her captive to stand next to the other men while she and the other two women met to decide what they should do with them.

While they were talking, Duelo heard the pilot lying on the couch behind them groaning in a painful manner and turned himself around before placing his hand against the pilot's forehead.

"So that long haired boy is a doctor?" the old woman asked as she watched Duelo check the injured pilot. "And the one lying down is the pilot that helped us, but what about the other two?"

"The short one is an attacker" Meia answered "I saw him climbing into an enemy powered suit".

"Hold on!" Hibiki protested "I'm not…"

The blonde haired man next to Hibiki elbowed him in the stomach to keep him from saying anything.

"Why you" Hibiki groaned before the entire ship began shaking.

"What's going on?" the platinum haired woman asked immediately raising some kind of communicator to her ear.

"There's something attacking us!" a panicked voice replied.

The ship shook again and the ceiling began cracking.

"What the hell!" the injured pilot yelled after the ship shook. Bolting up into a sitting position the pilot immediately hunched over and grabbed his forehead growling in pain.

"You can't move around like that" Duelo told him in a calm, serious voice "You'll only aggravate your injury".

"Never mind me" the pilot growled "What the hell just happened?"

"Dreads are going out!" Meia said before she ran out of the room.

A loud crashing sound echoed in the longue room as a part of the ceiling caved in and fell on one of the guards.

"Oh no!" the other guard cried as she grabbed her friend "Just hold on I'll get you out of there".

"No you mustn't move her!" Duelo said before jumping over the couch.

The guard immediately turned to face him and aimed a glowing ring at him.

Duelo kept a neutral expression "You don't have to worry about me I'm a doctor and I just want to see what I can do for her".

The ship shook again making the injured pilot roll off the couch. "Dammit!" he growled before pushing himself back to his feet "Where's the hangar?" he asked the old woman.

The captain looked at the pilot with an intrigued look "What are you planning on doing?"

"What do you think?" the pilot shot back "I'm going to fight. I'm not going to just sit here while something is attacking the ship I'm on!"

The old pirate smiled "Very well, it's just down the hall and two decks down. I'm sure you'll know it when you see it".

The pilot nodded "Right".

After the pilot ran out of the room Duelo called to him to stop, but he didn't hear him. "There's nothing I can do here" he said to the pirate captain "Take me to sick bay".

"Well now this is an interesting situation we've gotten into isn't it?" the blonde man asked "We may be enemies, but right now our first priority should be our survival".

"What do you have in mind?" the pirate captain asked.

"Warning! This one is trying to pull something!" the white robot shrieked.

"Pyoro you keep quiet" the captain demanded.

"In a crisis like this it's only natural we call for a cease fire and deal with the immediate threat" the blonde man continued "You may also wish to utilize my skills; you see truth be told I'm actually a helmsman".

"Oh you're a helmsman are you?" the captain asked.

The captain stepped forward "Alright then you will come with me to the bridge young man" she said to the blonde helmsman. "BC you take the doctor to the infirmary and then take the attacker to the warehouse".

The platinum hair woman nodded "Yes captain".

Two decks down, the injured pilot finally made it to the hangar and was relieved to see his F-22 sitting there. "Alright now we're talking" he said as he ran over to it and climbed into the pilot's seat.

"Alright" he said to himself as the canopy closed over him "Time to take off".

The pilot noticed something tangled around the flightstick of the fighter jet; it looked like a bead necklace with dog tags stranded on it.

Holding the tags in his hand, the pilot looked at the first line on the first tag "Mobius 1".

After reading that line, the pilot hunched over as another surge of pain rushed through his head. Growling fiercely as he clenched at his head, the pilot muttered "Mobius 1?"

"I…I'm…" the pilot struggled against the pain that was raging through his head "Who am I?"

The ship shook again and the pilot closed his eyes hearing a distant voice in his head "Heroes really do exist".

Gasping, the pilot shot his head up and glared at the open hangar door "Let's do this!" he roared before activating his fighter's engines and taking off into the battle that awaited outside.

"What are these things!" Jura yelled over the radio "I can't shake them!"

"Just hang on Jura!" Meia yelled trying to fly cover for Jura, but the enemy was trailing too close behind her to give her the chance.

Hearing the warning alarm in her ship go off, Meia turned to the side, just as a missile hit the enemy that followed behind her destroying it.

"What?" Meia gasped seeing the light blue F-22 roar past her and toward Jura's ship.

"Target locked!" the pilot of the F-22 announced after locking on "Fox 1!"

Pulling the trigger on the front end of the flightstick, the pilot fired his fighter jet's machine guns at the cube shaped enemies shooting them down easily before turning to the side to evade one that was pursuing him from behind.

The cube shaped enemies immediately began ignoring the three female pilots and turned their attention to the F-22.

Keeping a close eye on his radar, the pilot waited until the enemies began firing at him before he decelerated and made a sharp turn to the side to evade their attack, but with the cuffs keeping his hands restrained together his maneuvering was sluggish.

"Damn!" he growled after one of the enemy's laser grazed over his left wing.

Quickly taking his hand off his flightstick, the pilot switched on his radio before grabbing the jet's controls again "Hey if you can hear down there get these damn restrains off. I can't fly with them on".

On the bridge of the merging battleship, the platinum haired woman, BC was staring at a screen that showed the pilot of the F-22. "Having trouble dealing with the enemy?" she asked him "You were pretty confident not that long ago".

Barely evading an enemy's attack the pilot demanded "Take these things off and I'll show you that my confidence isn't misplaced arrogance".

BC smirked and held up a small remote with a single button and pressed it, releasing the cuffs that restrained the pilot's hands.

The pilot grunted "That's better, now to get rid of these things!" The warning alarm in the cockpit went off and the pilot immediately rolled his fighter to the side before decelerating and in mid roll began chasing the enemy that passed by him shooting it down almost immediately before evading another attack.

"Warning missile" the cockpit's emergency alert said "Warning missile".

The pilot watched his radar for the incoming laser fired from the enemy before pulling off a wide barrel roll and looping around behind the three enemies that were following him.

"Locked on!" he said "Fox three! Fox three!"

Moving his thumb over the tip of his flightstick, the pilot pressed down on the button at the top triggering his missiles to fire. His XMAA missiles targeted the three enemies and once fired they split between them before making impact and destroying them.

"Three bandits down" the pilot announced before he turned to assist Jura who had an enemy latched onto her ship and trying to break through it.

Flying head on toward the red Dread, the pilot contacted Jura. "Listen; on the count of three, I need you to tilt your ship to the right".

"Why?" Jura asked in a scared voice as the enemy continued to cut through her ship's canopy.

"Just trust me!" the pilot demanded as he set himself in a head on collision with Jura's Dread.

Flying head on toward Jura's Dread, the pilot began counting. "1…2…3!"

Once he said 3, Jura threw her Dread to the right flying it on its side just as the F-22 tilted onto its side as well and fired its machine guns at the enemy latched to the Dread, shooting it off.

Jura had closed her eyes after she tilted her Dread to the side, but when she opened her eyes she saw the enemy wasn't on her Dread and sighed in relief that she was still alive. "Thanks" she said to the pilot who didn't answer.

The red haired pilot, Dita began screaming as more and more of the strange enemies appeared and began attacking her. "There are too many. Someone help!"

"I'm coming" the pilot of the F-22 yelled, accelerating a peak speed of mach 2.2.

"Where are they all coming from?" Jura cried "Meia you've got two following you!"

"I'm fine" Meia grunted after turning her Dread to evade the enemy "Just go help Dita".

Approaching the bulky, blue Dread, the pilot of the F-22 gained a quick lock on the first enemy and fired a single missile before banking away to avoid colliding with the on coming Dread.

Quickly looping back around, the pilot targeted four of the seven enemies that pursued the Dread and switched to his special weapons.

The missile bay on the underside of the F-22 opened and a rack holding four XMAA missiles extended as the targeting system gained a lock on four of the enemies.

"Fox three!" the pilot yelled as he fired the four missiles and switched back to his regular armaments immediately after. Gaining an immediate lock on the next enemy, he fired another missile. "Fox two".

One after another, five of the seven enemies were shot down before the sixth fell to the Raptor's machine guns. The seventh enemy stopped pursuing Dita and targeted the Raptor, but was immediately shot down after the pilot fired a close range missile just as he started to bank away.

BC contacted the pilots "More reinforcements are on the way, just hang in there".

"Reinforcements?" Jura repeated "Are we even going to need them?" she asked after seeing how quickly the pilot of the F-22 shot down seven enemies back to back.

From the battleship below them another machine flew out, the Vanguard.

Flying in a cartwheel rotation the pilot of the Vanguard screamed while he tried to gain control of the mech while the enemy attacked him.

"What is that?" Jura asked.

"Its one of the good aliens!" Dita cheered.

"Is that really our reinforcements?" Meia asked quietly, seeing the embarrassing way the Vanguard was being piloted.

"One of those things again?" the pilot of the F-22 muttered, as the Vanguard's clenched its fist and thrusted it out while the pilot roared "Lightning fist!"

Nothing happened, the Vanguard was immediately surrounded by four enemies and shot making the other four pilots unsure of the Vanguard pilot's chances.

"Alright" the pilot inside the Vanguard said after getting the hang of his controls "Try this!"

Activating the Vanguard's sword the pilot flew through the remaining enemies slicing through them with ease.

Following the Vanguard, the pilot of the F-22 shot down each enemy that tried to get in their way, until they finally reached the enemy's main system.

Seeing the enemy's main system stop its advance and a giant slit appear across its center, the F-22's pilot immediately pulled out just as several of the cube shaped enemies latched onto the Vanguard.

"No pull back!" the pilot in the F-22 yelled seeing Dita's Dread flying right toward the Vanguard.

It was too late, the enemy's main system had opened up and several arching tentacles shot out impaling both the Vanguard and the Dread destroying both of them.

"Idiots" the pilot of the F-22 muttered as closed his eyes.

Back on the bridge of the battle ship, both the captain and BC hung their heads.

"I guess our miracle didn't happen" the captain said sadly.

BC looked up "I guess we should signal for an evacuation".

"What is that?" Meia gasped, drawing everyone's attention back to the enemy and what was in front of it.

Rising out of the flaming debris cloud was a giant mech. Its armor was searing hot from the heat of the explosion around it. Once its armor cooled everyone saw its real colors.

Its was completely dark blue except for its joints, chest and head which were a dim tan, shade of green and the massive cannons on its back where radiating a light green color.

"What kind of sci-fi crap is this?" the pilot of the F-22 yelled seeing the giant mech ahead of him.

The new mech reached out its arms and grabbed the enemy's main system and held its mouth open while the canons on its back lifted up and rested on its shoulders before firing.

The beams from both of the canons ripped through the main enemy, destroying it on impact and causing the remaining enemies to shut down.

Turning his fighter around, the pilot of the F-22 returned to the battleship and landed in the hangar along side the three Dreads and the Vanguard shortly after.

"What do you suppose that was?" Jura asked Meia after the got out of their Dreads.

"I don't know" Meia replied "But its power".

"Hmm" Jura hummed before seeing the unknown pilot climbing out of his fighter jet she walked over to him.

"I've never seen someone fly like that" she said as he stepped off the ladder and turned to face her, but didn't answer.

"So who are you?" Jura asked him.

The pilot looked down at his right hand. He was holding the dog tags he found in his fighter; once again he read the first line on the first tag. "I may not remember my name" he said "But I know who I am".

Jura was confused, he knew who he was, but he didn't know his name? "So who are you?" she asked again.

The pilot clenched his fist around the dog tags "I.S.A.F's top fighter pilots and the only pilot in the 118th Tactical Fighter Wing…"

The pilot smirked as he turned sideways and looked back at his F-22 "I am Mobius 1".

* * *

><p><strong>AN.** And with the end of chapter 3, the stage is officially set for the beginning of the journey of the Nirvana's crew and their newest member.

Will the female pirates get along with Mobius 1 and the other men? Or is their story destined for a darker path?


	4. A New Mission

Inside the ship's conference room, the captain, her sub-commander and the leader of the dread teams were conducting a meeting to establish their current situation.

"The ships have been completely consumed by the crystal" the sub-commander, Buzam Calessa or BC as everyone called her began. "The bridge, residential quarters and engine room have all been engulfed. Thankfully, the Dread platform and Reg Central have suffered minimal damage; we're currently cleaning up and attempting to install the new database. For now the bridge has stopped sliding and is situated over the garden sector. Right now the growth of the Peksis Pragma and all other changes have ceased" the Sub-commander looked to the leader of the Dread teams "Your report Meia".

The blue haired pilot nodded "Thank you Buzam. The three Dreads that were transformed by the Peksis are too large for our platform, so we've modified the men's ship to hold them for now. Also while I was investigating, I discovered that this ship hadn't been used for some time. Almost all of the circuits and wiring are decayed and useless".

BC resumed her report "The real issue is our current location. Readings show that we're far from Mejerian space and it'll take approximately 270 days to return home".

The captain leaned her head against her open hand while she fanned herself "What did we do to deserve being swept across the galaxy?" She looked to Meia "What about those things that attacked us? Have we learned anything?"

Meia nodded "My team was understaffed so I sent some volunteers to try and retrieve some information from the wreckage".

"Volunteers?" the captain repeated.

Outside the ship, in the darkness of space Dita and Gascogne, leader of Reg Central were beginning their investigation of the wreckage of the enemy seed ship.

On the bridge of the crystallized ship, the bridge operators were frantically fanning themselves trying to stay cool under the slowly raising heat.

"Why is the air conditioning broken at a time like this?" the one with blonde hair complained before she contacted engineering "Its 82 degrees in here what's taking so long?"

"Stop complaining" one of the engineering staff told her "It's over 86 down here".

Inside the engine room, the leader of the engineering teams was wearing a spacesuit while working on the peksis that now seemed to be the ship's main power source. "Is this a proto-type?" she asked herself "It seems to be ancient".

Elsewhere, the ship's nurse Paiway was riding a lift while playfully writing in a note book. "Bravely, the crew took over the enemy ship, but even then Magno's family must face a whole new crisis".

"Paiway!" a crew member called from a nearby platform "If you have nothing to do then start helping out".

Paiway closed her eyes with an annoyed expression "I am doing something".

"Hold on we need a lift" someone called.

Barnette and Jura got on the lift "Are you fooling around again?" Barnette asked her.

The young nurse held up her frog puppet and began speaking in a grainy voice "Barnette and Jura sure have a lot of stuff" looking her puppet in the face she spoke with her regular voice "We're lucky; since our rooms weren't affected we don't have to move, ribbit".

"She's really pushing my buttons this time" Jura growled.

"You're not helping matters you know" Barnette said before she noticed the rope tied to Paiway's waist "What's the rope for?"

Holding her frog puppet up once again Paiway said "This elevator is only a temporary one, you're on your own if it falls". The young nurse giggled as the rope began lifting her up and away from the elevator leaving both of the Dread pilots behind and really worried about their choice of transportation.

Back in the brig, the 4 men that were taken prisoner were being hosed down by a small group of guards to 'disinfect' them.

Hibiki and Bart scurried light roaches in the light, while Duelo calmly held his ground. The fourth man, the one everyone only knew as Mobius 1 was leaning against the wall, breathing heavily as the cold water washed over him.

"So these are the only men left huh?" Captain Magno asked as she watched from a monitor in the conference room.

BC nodded "We have no other choice, but to rely on them for the time being until we can fully understand how the systems on the ship work".

The captain hummed while she recalled how Bart was sucked into the helmsman portal the previous day "Yes, I've never seen anything like it. It was very unnerving".

Back in the brig, the wash down was over and the four men were finally given some time to relax, in some form or another.

Bart was telling a fake story to pass the time "It was so unnerving; one by one my comrades were falling and before I knew it I was the only one left, I knew it was my duty as a soldier to persevere".

Duelo calmly listened to the story just to humor his cellmate, while Hibiki was daydreaming in the corner next to Mobius 1 who seemed to be sleeping.

"_This is messed up"_ Hibiki thought _"Here I thought I changed my life and here I end up"._

Bart eased over to him and brought him back to reality "Hey you!" he began startling the young pilot "What happened back there? Why did your Vanguard combine with that Mejerian fighter?"

"How should I know?" Hibiki snapped "And who cares about that! You think I'm going to forgive you for socking me earlier!"

Bart held his hands up defensively "Now, now I was only thinking of your best interest is all".

Hibiki's anger grew "You really don't know when to shut up do you? There's enough hot air as it is!"

Mobius 1 grunted weakly as he sat forward "Would you stop yelling?"

"He's simply worried" Duelo said to Hibiki "He's trying to take his mind off of things through conversation. Try to forgive him".

Bart was impressed "Wow you're pretty sharp! So whaddya say? With you're intellect and my superior speaking skills we should have no problem taking the ship back from those…"

"Would you care to repeat that please!" a demanding voice asked from outside the cell, startling Bart.

The helmsman slowly turned around with a sheepish expression "Oh nothing, we were just joking around is all".

The woman standing outside the cell was the ship's sub-commander, BC. She smirked at the helmsman "I'd like to hear your jokes. You'll come with me won't you?"

The helmsman chuckled weakly "I'd love to as long as it's of a social nature".

After BC and her guards escorted Bart from the cell, Duelo saw the pained expression on Mobius' face and asked "How are you feeling?"

Mobius groaned as he straightened himself against the wall "Bit of a fever, mild headache, there's a faint ringing in my ears and I'm really dizzy, what do you make of that?"

Duelo closed his eye for a second "It's just after effects from your concussion, but the fever could cause complications if left untreated".

The doctor got to his feet and stepped over to Mobius before placing his hand against his forehead "It's not that high, but I'd feel a lot better if we got you to sick bay as soon as possible for some antibiotics".

Mobius had a small grin on his face "Well let's hope the guards come back soon then".

The ship rocked violently before throwing the three men around in their cell.

"What the hell was that?" Mobius asked as he tried to push himself off the floor.

"It was most likely Bart" Duelo answered as he helped Mobius back up and sat him against the wall, seeing the way the pilot's eyes kept rolling back and forth Duelo placed his hand against his forehead again and his visible eye narrowed "You're fever got worse, this isn't good. If we don't get you some medicine now there could be serious consequences".

"Just get me some whisky or some vodka I'll be fine" Mobius joked with slurring speech.

Mobius' eyes rolled back in his head again before his eyelids closed and he slouched over.

Duelo did what he could to keep the pilot's fever down, but without ice, water to wet his shirt or some antibiotics there wasn't much he could do.

Not long after Mobius passed out, BC returned to the brig "You're called Duelo right?" she asked the doctor "It's your turn to come with us".

Duelo looked over his shoulder "Mobius has a high fever and needs some antibiotics; I'd appreciate it if you took him to the infirmary".

BC smiled and placed a fist against her hip "Well then it's his lucky day, we need you in the infirmary to check on one of our bridge operators so it looks like you'll be able to treat both of them".

Duelo nodded "Very well, lead the way".

Picking Mobius up and shouldering him, Duelo followed BC to the infirmary.

The doors opened and Duelo immediately noticed the bridge operator Ezra lying on the far bed.

"She's running a fever and it won't go down" BC told him while he set Mobius on the nearest bed.

"Interesting" Duelo said calmly "I was under the impression that your medical technology was fairly advanced".

BC casually closed her eyes and smiled "You're an elite soldier aren't you? Probing for information at every opportunity, very well, approximately 90% of our systems are down unfortunately the medical systems are as well"

Duelo smiled "I'm going to need a wet towel and some antibiotics; that should take care of him long enough for me to check the other patient".

BC smirked before nodding at one of the guards to assist Duelo in the infirmary while he treated Mobius and Ezra.

On the bridge, the three remaining bridge operators were frantically running system checks while the ship continued to speed through space.

"Scanners are picking up a nebula dead ahead of us" Aramone announced.

Belvedere added. "The main systems are all down; we can't regain control of the ship".

Captain Magno sighed as a bag of ice rested on her head "Its just one problem after another".

A massive screen appeared above the bridge, showing Meia "Meia here. The platform is offline; we're unable to retrieve Dita and Ms. Gasco"

Another screen appeared showing Barnette and Jura crammed into a small space "Jura and I have been trapped in this elevator for hours" the green haired pilot whined.

The ship entered the nebula and immediately flew into the center which was nothing, but iced over asteroids. And what little power that remained in the infirmary went out.

The second the lights went out, Duelo snatched the communicator from the guard next to him "Engineering I'm trying to work on a patient. Make power to the sick bay a priority".

"Hey we've got our own problems" the leader of the engineering teams told him "I'd love to help out, but I can't read men's language".

Duelo looked up to BC from the corner of his eye "If I were there I could read it for you".

The sub-commander tilted her head and smiled again "Go right ahead" she told him.

After Duelo leaves to head to the engineering deck the ship stops completely and the main engines shut down.

Aramone checked her console station "Captain it appears the engines have shut down".

The captain sighed as her desk fan cut off "Just when I get the good news that we stop, we end up in a nebula".

"Captain another section of the ship is changing!" Belvedere said.

"Captain I have a suggestion" BC's voice said before her screen appeared above the bridge.

The captain had leaned back in her seat and moved her bag of ice down over her eye "Go ahead".

"Our investigation has revealed that the male Vanguard and that other fighter jet can still launch. However the pilot who calls himself Mobius is in no condition to go out so I recommend we send the other man out in the Vanguard to retrieve Dita and Gascogne".

"That's not a bad idea" the captain concurred "By the way, what are you doing in the men's section of the ship?"

BC paused for a second "Just fulfilling my duty as your first mate, over".

Soon after BC received permission to send the Vanguard out for the retrieval mission, the ship's radar picked up a more imminent threat.

"Captain something is on an intercept course" Aramone cried "Scanners show an asteroid sized ice mass is on a collision course with this ship".

The captain looked toward the helmsman portal "Can't you do anything!" she yelled.

Bart screamed from inside his station "Help me! Get me out of here!"

"The ice mass is too big" Belvedere cried "Even if we put the shields up we don't have enough power to stabilize them against something of that size".

Aramone cried "If we can't get the power back on it's gonna destroy the ship!"

A screen appeared above the bridge "Bridge, this is Mobius 1 requesting clearance to take off and intercept the asteroid".

The captain looked up to him "Do you really think you can destroy something that big? Better yet should you even be flying in your condition?"

"We don't really have a lot of options do we?" Mobius asked her.

The captain closed her eyes "Very well, permission granted".

Mobius nodded "Mobius 1 launching".

The engines of the F-22 roared to life inside the auxiliary hangar, before the fighter began rolling out toward the open side of the ship before taking off to intercept the ice mass.

"Mobius 1 will be in range of the ice mass in 120 seconds" Belvedere announced.

Out in space, Mobius 1 could barely see the nose of his F-22, let alone a giant mass of ice that was hurdling toward him.

"Damn, my radar is in-op" he said "Bridge, I'm getting interference on my radar. Relay all hits on the ship's main radar to my HUD and IFF".

Belvedere answered "Sorry, but we can't do that. Engineering has their hands full trying to restore power to the ship".

"Mobius 1, understood".

The pilot turned to the side and said "Bridge, tell me when the ice mass is about to pass me, give me a bearing and distance to target".

"The ice mass will pass by you in exactly 20 seconds. Distance between you and the target will be about 1,200 feet".

"Roger, leave it to me".

Mobius 1 counted down the seconds until the ice mass would pass by him, before switching to his special weapons. Once the target passed by him, Mobius 1 turned his fighter around and leveled it behind the ice mass before firing 4 XMAA missiles at the massive asteroid, immediately switching back to his regular missiles he fired both, scoring minimal damage against the thick ice.

"Dammit" the pilot growled, "Alright new plan".

Flying away from the asteroid, Mobius 1 circled around until he was on the asteroid's flank before turning to fly right at it. "Missiles ready, Fox three!"

Firing four more XMAA missiles at the side of the asteroid, Mobius repeated his previous plan and immediately switched back to his normal missiles before firing another two, in an attempt to force the asteroid off course and away from the ship.

After the missiles impacted the side of the asteroid, Belvedere called him from the bridge "The trajectory of the ice mass has changed slightly, if you can push it just a little more it should pass by without hitting us".

"Understood, circling around for another pass".

Banking away from the asteroid, Mobius circled back around for a second run at the target, successfully pushing it further off course.

"Just a little more!" Belvedere cried.

Mobius made a third attack run, but the ice mass was still on a collision course with the ship.

"Making a fourth run, bridge if you can put up the ship's shields now. If I can't knock this thing off course the shields may allow it to graze by without causing extensive damage".

"Alright" Belvedere acknowledged "We don't have sufficient power to stabilize them against a direct impact so please keep trying".

"Don't worry" Mobius told her.

Turning around for his fourth attack run, Mobius leveled his fighter and emptied the rest of his special weapons in one last attempt to force the ice mass off its current course.

After the four missiles impacted the side of the asteroid, Belvedere cried "Success! The ice mass is no longer on a collision course with the ship".

The captain sighed with relief "Well done. I'm impressed".

Mobius 1's screen appeared on the bridge "Thanks, I'm coming back in to land".

After landing in the ship's hangar, Mobius 1 removed his damaged helmet and placed his hand against his head, he could still feel the dent where his skull fractured and there were still some after effects from his concussion, but his fever had completely sub-sided. For whatever reason, he felt like he could take on the world by himself.

"Its been a long while since I've felt this good" he chuckled before he climbed out of his jet holding his helmet in his left hand as he walked toward the bridge.

On his way to the bridge, Mobius spotted three guards near a damaged elevator.

"Is something wrong?" he asked one of them.

The guard was surprised to see Mobius outside of the brig, but didn't pay it much attention "Two of our pilots are trapped inside the elevator; we're trying to get them out, but so far no luck".

Mobius stepped away from the guard and over to the open elevator door "Well it's not that far down, if you've got a rope ladder or even just a rope everything should be fine".

The guard told him "We have a rope ladder, but it won't do much good unless we can get them outside the elevator".

Mobius nodded slowly "Alright, have someone go get the ladder, I'll climb down and get them out of there".

The guard nodded as Mobius began climbing down the elevator shaft.

Stepping on the top of the elevator, Mobius opened the hatch and dropped down into the elevator.

"What are you doing out of your cell?" one of the pilots demanded.

Mobius recognized the hostile voice "You're the one I saved aren't you?" he asked the green haired pilot "Yeah I remember your voice. You're the one that was pinned down during that raid". Turning to face the other pilot Mobius smiled "And you're Jura if I remember correctly right?"

The blonde Dread pilot smiled seductively "Hmm. You remember my name, how curious".

"Well we can chat latter, but for now its time to get the two of you out of here" he said as the one of the guards called down to them before dropping the rope ladder.

Cupping his hands down by his knees Mobius asked "Alright who's going first?"

Barnette looked to Jura and nodded her head upward telling her to go first.

Jura stepped onto Mobius' hands and the ISAF pilot boosted her up allowing her to climb out of the elevator and up the ladder.

"You're next" he said to Barnette as he cupped his hands again.

Barnette was clearly hesitant at first, but she realized that she wasn't going to be able to climb out without his help, so she roughly stepped onto his hands while he boosted her out.

Once Barnette was on top of the elevator, Mobius took a step back before he jumped at the wall of the elevator, planting his foot against it and immediately pushing off and grabbing the edge of the open hatch before pulling himself out.

Climbing back out, Mobius was met by two armed guards standing in front of Barnette and Jura.

"You know" he said in a casual, sarcastic tone "I'm beginning to think I'm not appreciated around here".

The speakers in the halls came on as the captain and BC made a ship-wide announcement.

"The captain and I have concluded our meeting" the sub-commander began "We've decided to inform the entire crew of our current situation. Upon analyzing the data we've retrieved from the enemy debris we've gained some intelligence on our enemy. I'd like you all to take a look at this image".

Every monitor and holo-screen across the ship showed an image of a planet covered by massive machinery. "This is the enemy's home planet. We don't know its exact location, but we've determined they have a considerable amount of fire power. We are currently in their territory and they perceive our presence to be hostile which is why they attacked us. We can expect more battles with this enemy as we return to Mejerian space, but that isn't all. We've also discovered that this enemy has called for the destruction of both Mejere and Tarak".

The captain took over "We are pirates and our loyalties are neither to Tarak or Mejere. However we cannot allow this unknown force to drive away our potential customers. Therefore I intend to reach our home system before this enemy and inform both worlds of this crisis. For this operation to be a success we must incorporate the men we have taken prisoner into our crew".

Everyone seemed to be in shock at the captain's announcement.

"There are many things we still do not understand, such as this ship or that large machine, but I'm sure we'll learn piece by piece along our journey. I expect the full co-operation of the entire crew that is all".

Mobius smirked cockily as he looked at the guards "You wanna take those out of my face now?" he asked them calmly.

The guards lowered their weapons and Mobius thanked them before walking away and returning to the hangar.

Hours later, Jura entered the hangar and saw Mobius staring at a damaged piece of salvage, the investigation team returned with.

"Is something wrong?" she asked him after seeing the way he was staring at it.

"That emblem" he muttered, pointing at half an emblem on the side of the salvaged machine "I've seen it before".

The emblem had a golden yellow outline and an eagle's head of the same color, with black and orange stripes running down and the tip of what looked like a golden yellow wing below it. There was an arced ribbon on the bottom of the emblem that read "156th TACT".

The rest of the emblem was broken off. The machine in front of them must've belonged to something once before it was used to make what was in front of them.

"You sure you've seen this before?" Jura asked him "It looks really old".

Mobius grunted as he placed his hand against his forehead "156th Tact…The 156th Tactical…Mobius 1, 118th Tactical Fighter Wing, ISAF…" Mobius' breathing became frantic and shallow before he felt a piercing pain in his head causing him to pass out.

Mobius fell forward, but Jura caught him just as he fell to his knees "Hey!" she gasped as she caught him "Just don't pass out on me. Can you hear me?"


	5. Facing Forward

It had been an entire week now. A full week since the female pirates from Mejere had taken four men prisoner, but four days ago they were named members of the crew out of necessity; while still remaining prisoners.

Each of the four men had proven they were useful and essential since their capture, the blonde helmsman; Bart was the only one who could fly the ship. Despite the best efforts of the female pirates, none of them could figure out how it worked in fact the entire bridge crew had their doubts that even their so called helmsman knew how the ship really worked.

The long, dark haired doctor proved to be indispensible, even after he was taken prisoner by them; he still aided the women that were injured without even the slightest hesitation.

And perhaps the most surprising were the two pilots.

The young teen from Tarak, Hibiki Tokai proved himself a capable pilot of the Vanguard, helping to fend off a surprise attack by a still unknown mechanical enemy, despite his rather helpless outward appearance.

The other pilot, the man called Mobius 1 singlehandedly saved the entire ship from destruction. He had only been on two sorties so far since he was taken prisoner, but his skills as a pilot were beyond question. Easily he had flown through the entire enemy formation, shooting them down one by one without sustaining any damage.

Even though his skills were beyond any deniability many were still cautious and suspicious about him. He had suffered a mild concussion and amnesia before being taken prisoner and as a result lost almost all of his own memories with only a few flashes surviving the trauma. Because of this his entire past and everything about him had been laid in mystery even to himself.

Now that he was a free man, Mobius 1 had full access to most of the ship, he spent a good portion of his time either in the infirmary getting medicine to relieve some of the pain in his head or sleeping in a random part of the ship.

Currently Mobius is sitting on a bed in the infirmary speaking to Duelo about his amnesia.

"So what do you make of it?" Mobius asked the doctor.

Duelo placed his hand around his chin "Hard to say. You said the only thing you remember clearly is that you're a pilot for an organization called ISAF correct?"

Mobius nodded "Yeah, other than that all I can see are flashes of air battles and the same two structures. They're some kind of super weapons I know. One had giant guns all around it that fired massive shells and the other covered an entire island with lasers and missiles. Other than those flashes all I can remember is I'm an insanely good fighter pilot".

"Hmm" Duelo hummed "Well the cause of your amnesia is clearly related to the trauma you took suffered when you hit your head, but I can't venture an accurate guess as to when your memory would return. Normally with amnesia cases such as yours the memory returns slowly, usually after a few weeks. I could run a scan of your brain functions to see how deep your injury is, but that wouldn't do anything to cure your memory loss".

"Wouldn't be worth trying then" Mobius sighed sliding off the bed.

Duelo noted "Your injuries haven't healed completely yet, but you're in good enough condition to pilot your fighter if another attack occurs".

"If you say so" Mobius replied "I'm still not convinced that this isn't some dream and that I'll wake up in a hospital bed somewhere".

"I can understand your skepticism" Duelo told him "From what I hear the technology of your fighter is very outdated. It dates back to the days when humans still lived on Earth, at least that's what the captain said. She seems very knowledgeable".

"What are you getting at Duelo?" Mobius asked.

The doctor continued "The chances that that fighter of yours or anything of that era surviving this long through time is next to impossible without constant maintenance to keep in serviceable condition".

"You're saying that I'm crazy and only imagined that I'm from Earth?" Mobius asked.

"It is possible, but I'm not convinced of it myself" Duelo turned his chair back to the massive console "As far fetched as it sounds I'd say you really are from Earth and somehow traveled through time. It would also explain you're disbelief of your current situation".

"I wouldn't say disbelief" Mobius said "I'd say the pain in my head is very real which means that all of this" he pointed around the med bay and the rest of the ship "Is also real. Maybe part of me is hoping that I'm really dreaming and really unconscious somewhere on an ISAF base".

Mobius turned around and stepped out of the infirmary "Good talk Duelo, see you around".

After wondering around the ship for an hour, Mobius found the leader of the engineer teams standing in front of the two dread pilots he knew as Barnette and Jura.

The engineer, Parfet was asking them what they thought a good name for their ship would be as the small white NAVI robot hovered around them.

"Question!" he called to them "How do I get to the mess from here?"

"The what?" Jura asked him.

"The mess hall" Mobius repeated before seeing the confusion on their faces "The cafeteria. Where they serve food and drinks to crewman".

"Oh the cafeteria is up three decks and at the back of the corridor" Parfet told him to which Mobius sighed angrily. "Trying to get used to the ship?" she asked him.

"I've been on aircraft carries less confusing than this ship" Mobius told her "At least I think I have" he continued before a slight throbbing pain ran across his head.

"So what do you say?" Parfet asked him "Got a suggestion for the ship's new name?"

"I can't even remember my own name" Mobius whined "Why would I try to name a ship" he complained before seeing a name on the screen of the NAVI-bot. "Nirvana? I like it. Place my vote on that".

"Three decks up end of the corridor" the ISAF pilot muttered to himself after walking away from the three women.

Going up the first deck, Mobius passed by the restrooms and overheard two of the crew discussing a 'rumor' about a strange tube men have between their legs. Mobius' eyes narrowed as he sighed through his nose in a very annoyed way before he continued walking.

At the end of the hall Mobius opened the door to the next staircase before he heard the unmistakable sound of Hibiki screaming before the door to the 'men's restroom' slid open and Dita was thrown out.

"Why can't I stay and watch Mr. Alien?" Dita asked him after the door closed.

Hibiki yelled back "How the heck am I supposed to go with you watching?"

Dita let out a disappointed groan "I was just curious is all". She noticed Mobius looking at her from the entrance to the staircase and smiled before running over to him.

"Mr. Mobius" she called over to him.

Mobius' eyes widened "Whatever it is no" he told her sternly.

The dread pilot whined "I just want to know about the tube men have between their legs".

Mobius' face became dark red as he turned away from the younger pilot and entered the staircase. "I need coffee" he muttered to himself.

Finally making it to the mess hall, Mobius entered and was immediately greeted by an untrusting and very hostile gaze from the leader of the dread teams. "Hello Meia" Mobius greeted in an unconcerned, but annoyed tone.

Meia didn't respond to him, she continued to glare daggers at the I.S.A.F pilot who remained unfazed.

Mobius apologized to her in a sarcastic tone "Sorry, but the death stare doesn't work on me, now if you narrow your eyes a bit more and angle one of your brows, maybe add a subtle growl for spice then you might actually begin to ship away at my composure. Buuuuuut I doubt it".

The blue hair dread pilot finally responded albeit in an extremely hostile tone "Your sarcasm won't get you anywhere, keep up that attitude and you'll end up back in the brig for good".

"You see this?" Mobius asked her as he raised his left hand up and leveled it with his shoulder pretending like he was holding something between his thumb and index finger. "This is your tension switch. And this!" he continued before raising his right hand in the same manner "Is my sarcastic asshole switch".

Mobius slowly lowered his left hand or 'Meia's tension switch' down to waist level and then his right hand, his 'sarcasm switch' down as well "Get it now?" he asked her before snapping his fingers at her and walking over to the coffee maker in the far corner.

Taking a clean mug from the side of the counter, Mobius poured himself a cup before turning around and walking back out of the cafeteria just before the entire ship began shaking, quickly followed by an alarm.

The shaking made Mobius stumble into one of the tables and spill his coffee against his grey flightsuit.

Every crew member in the cafeteria immediately cleared out and returned to their stations to prepare for the attack, leaving Mobius alone in the massive room staring into the empty mug in his hand.

Mobius sighed quietly as he set the mug down on the table before leaving for the hangar to deal with the enemy, he but by the time he got there the battle was already over.

Arriving in the hangar, Mobius watched the Vanguard land and Hibiki step out from its cockpit. Seeing Meia and Mobius looking up at him the young pilot smiled "You must be here to thank me for taking care of you again right?" he asked cockily.

"Don't be so conceited" Meia told him in a held back tone "You put yourself in a lot of danger by doing that. You are only to act on my direct orders".

Hibiki jumped down from the Vanguard and gave Meia an egotistical glance "You can't let a little danger like that bother you. Then again you don't have to worry about the enemy since I'm here to protect you".

Meia grunted "Small dogs always bark the loudest".

Hibiki's tone changed "Yeah, well its better than not being able to bark at all!" he yelled.

"Enough!" Mobius shouted as he stepped forward and over to Hibiki.

"What does this tell you?" he asked the raven haired pilot as he pointed at the coffee stain on his flightsuit.

Hibiki stared at it for a brief moment before Mobius continued "It means I spilled my coffee, which means I didn't drink it, which also means I did NOT have my morning coffee".

Hibiki opened his mouth to speak, but Mobius cut him off. "Which also means! That I am in no mood to hear any excuse, arrogance, cockiness, egotistical, conceited, self-centered or any other thing that remotely annoys me" Mobius paused and roughly placed his hand on top of Hibiki's head "So listen close when I tell you this cause I will not say it again. You may think you're a big shot just because you took on a few lone enemies and even that big thing a few days ago, but the reality is. You're still just a kid with a lot to learn your piloting skills are third rate at best and your attitude will sooner get you thrown into the airlock than a thank you. Now if you want to die that badly then go ahead, but do drag the rest of us down with you".

Mobius let go of Hibiki and began walking away "You pull something like that again and I'll see to it that you never fly again".

After leaving the hangar, Mobius made his way to the bridge, but since he wasn't familiar with the ship it took him a while. After finally making it there he walked in to find Hibiki complaining to the captain.

"Hey I've saved your butts twice now so at least listen to me when I ask for a favor isn't that how the world works?" he yelled.

"Very well" the captain replied "What is it you want?"

"Well first off" Hibiki began "You gotta do something about that crazy girl the one yelling about all the alien stuff".

"Oh that must be Dita" the captain figured.

"And then there's that other girl, the one with the weird thing on her face, tell her to quit complaining, she should mind her business and not butt in on a man's work. And then there's that guy, the one who pilot's that Raptor or whatever it was called he's acting like he runs everything around here, tell him to leave me the hell alone".

Unbeknownst to Hibiki, while he was complaining about him, Mobius was standing behind him the whole time lightly glaring at him.

Realizing that the captain was no longer looking at him, Hibiki sensed someone behind him and turned around to see Mobius standing there with a blank and uncaring expression.

"A request captain" Mobius asked.

The captain grinned "There's certainly a lot of those being made today, what is it?"

"Its about Hibiki" Mobius said without looking back down at the younger pilot "He's going to get himself killed if he doesn't learn some discipline. Got any ideas?"

The captain hummed for a second before coming up with an idea "Well how about a change in departments? How about we assign him to the Reg crew".

"Reg crew?" Hibiki repeated.

The captain explained "It's an interesting job and it's under different management that doesn't involve Meia".

"Different management huh?" Hibiki asked with a cocky smile "Alright sounds good".

Hibiki promptly left the bridge to go check out Reg central leaving Mobius on the bridge still looking at the captain.

"Is there anything else you'd like to ask?" the captain asked the ISAF pilot.

"Yes actually there is" Mobius replied "That salvage that was recovered earlier in the week, If there's any reports or information on it I'd like to see it, also if you have absolutely any record of any kind about when humans still lived on Earth I'd like to request those as well".

"Oh?" the captain hummed curiously "And what would you like those for?"

"Because since seeing that half emblem on that salvage I've been seeing more and more flashes of what I'm hoping are some of the memories I've lost. I'm hoping reading through something might help me recover them".

The captain closed her eyes "Alright, I'm not sure if we have much, but I'll check and have them delivered to your room in the brig".

"Thank you captain" Mobius said before standing straight and saluting her before leaving the bridge.

At the edge of the bridge, Bart was sitting at the helmsman portal muttering to himself "Hibiki as no skills in negotiation, but that Mobius…he seems to be way too comfortable around these women, maybe I should ask Duelo what he thinks later".

The captain yelled to Duelo "How long are you going to keep eavesdropping!?"

Bart yelped "Right sorry". Sliding back into the helmsman portal Bart set this ship's autopilot system _"Why do I get all of the flak?"_ he wondered before leaping back out of the portal and saluting the captain "Autopilot sequence engaged, I'm going on break" he said sheepishly before sprinting out of the bridge.

Running out of the bridge, Bart quickly slid to a stop when he saw Mobius talking to Parfet and hid behind the corner to listen in on them.

"Are you sure?" Mobius asked the engineer.

Parfet nodded with a pleased smile on her face "I can't remember the last time I was this sure of something. Your fighter jet and Barnette's dread are very similar. Her dread is an older model, but its weapons systems have the same basic mechanics behind it as your F-22".

"That's nice, but…" Mobius began "The F-22 is a stealth fighter designed to slip past enemy radar and carry out long range air to air operations. It's also an atmospheric jet and I can't still figure out how it functions in space".

"Oh that part I figured out already" Parfet told him with another smile "You remember when you told the doctor that one of the last things you remember is a bright light before you awoke outside our raid on Tarak right?"

Mobius nodded.

"Then you said you were sure it was the same light that tossed us to where we are now".

Mobius nodded again.

Parfet continued "Well, the peksis is definitely behind it. I can't tell exactly how old the peksis is, but I know it's really old. And your fighter is definitely older and from Earth, which means that the peksis is at least older than when humans first left Earth".

"All this connects how?" Mobius asked her politely, but in a rushed tone.

"The peksis has the power to toss us across the galaxy so why can't it also send someone through time as well. When it did that, it modified your fighter to function in the vacuum of space. When it threw us across the galaxy it also changed the Vanguard and the three dreads, that's why it was able to combine with Dita's dread in that one battle".

Mobius half nodded "Ok, that explains why my Raptor can fly in space, but there's still the problem with proper ammunition. Thankfully you had some old missiles and M61A2 Vulcan rounds that were compatible with my fighter, but they won't last forever".

"Oh that's right" Parfet blurted out with an awkward expression "That's the entire reason I was looking for you and I completely forgot. Sorry I get sidetracks sometimes when I find something that's new and interesting to me".

Mobius chuckled "Its fine, so what was it?"

The engineer continued "We can modify your fighter to be able to use the same weapons the dreads use, since it's similar to an older dread model it wouldn't be too hard to just change the weapon systems, so whaddya think?"

Mobius placed his hand across his chin and hummed "Well it would solve the ammo problem, but will changing the weapons systems affect its performance?"

"As far as I can tell right now no" the engineer replied.

Mobius nodded again "Alright, just change the weapons systems leave everything else as it is".

Parfet smiled with a thumbs up "Alright, just leave it to me and my team, we'll get it set up for you and have it ready by the end of the day".

"Thank you Patricia" Mobius said saluting her.

"Its Parfet" the engineer corrected.

"Right sorry" Mobius apologized "I can only remember a few names so far, others are blurred thoughts at the edge of my mind".

Parfet smiled again "Its ok, just take your time I'm sure you'll learn everyone's name eventually".

Mobius gave a half smile and nod before he walked away, but Parfet stopped him "Oh there's one more thing. Ms. Gasco the leader in Reg wants to see you; she said she has something that might interest you".

"Can you show me how to get down there?" Mobius asked in a wimpy, pleading tone "Please say yes".

Parfet pointed her thumb down the hall "Sure, follow me".

After Parfet and Mobius left, Bart leaned out from the corner just as Mobius called back "Oh helmsman, if I catch you eavesdropping on me a third time I'll pierce your ears with a hollow point bullet".

Bart darted back behind the corner and pressed his back against the wall with a torrent of sweat pouring down his face at the thought of Mobius' threat before Belvedere came out and told him that captain wants him back on the bridge.

Down at Reg central, Parfet showed Mobius the door to the area where pilots place their orders on what type of armaments they want. Once they entered through the doorway all of the Reg hands on duty greeted them in unison "Welcome to Reg central, how may we help you today".

Parfet looked around and then to Mobius "I don't see Ms. Gasco, so she must be in the backroom. You'll be ok from here right?"

Mobius nodded "Yeah I should be fine".

"Well good luck" Parfet said cheerily before she left.

After Parfet left, Mobius slowly moved his eyes across each of the Reg hands on both sides of the room before proceeding to the back to find Ms. Gasco.

Entering the backroom, Mobius spotted Hibiki standing next to a tall woman in a yellow shirt over layered by red overalls and a long black open jacket with red inside lining.

She was easily taller than Hibiki and even had a few inches on Mobius. She had large, thick boots and gloves and her dark green hair was held in a very large bun almost as big as her head.

She was explaining to Hibiki how lucky he was, that it was them who attacked Tarak and not the real Mejerian Army.

Gasco was holding a pale green sphere in her hand as she spoke to Hibiki "If it was the real Mejerian Army that attacked you, you all would've been dead before you could spit out the word please".

"On this ship there's one simple rule; you wanna eat, you work. You can complain all you want, but just make sure your work's done first".

"I like it" Mobius said walking over to them "Real easy to remember".

Gasco smirked "Hmm, so you finally made your way down here. I found something I think you would find interesting considering your situation".

"The suspense is killing me" Mobius said in a get to the point tone.

Gasco was still smirking "That piece of salvage, Dita and I found it's really old, but it's made from the same type of material used to make your fighter".

"That would explain why I felt like I've seen it before" Mobius nodded.

"That's not all" Gasco told him "I was curious so I had Parfet scan the rest of the salvage we found and she found this". Gasco walked over to a table near the door and picked up another pale green sphere before returning with it and dropping it.

The sphere hovered in the air before projecting a holographic image of the salvage that was recovered.

"Waiting for the good part" Mobius muttered as Gasco began explaining.

"That image you said was an emblem, well it was. Parfet dug as far as she could through the memory banks of the machine that attacked us"

"And?" Mobius asked growing a bit anxious.

Gasco continued "She found these" Gasco pointed at a large stream of data that was still streaming "From what we could tell, its flight and performance data".

"So you're saying someone is monitoring how these things perform?" Mobius asked.

Gasco shook her head "Not just monitoring, programming. They're programming them to fly and fight in a specific formation and use specific tactics".

"They're machines" Mobius said "Aren't they programmed to follow a specific set of orders?"

"Technology has improved greatly since your days" Gasco chuckled "A machine as small as your finger can be used as a camera, a voice recorder, a computer or even a phone".

Mobius sighed "More Sci-Fi BS. Is that all?"

"No it's not" Gasco told him before using a small remote to change the image the sphere projected, it now showed an image of Mobius' F-22 flying above a city that was under siege.

"My raptor?" Mobius asked.

"Are you sure it's yours?" Gasco asked him.

Mobius nodded "Yeah, No other fighter carried my emblem" he pointed at the squared Mobius strip that formed the ribbon insignia. "Why would they have footage of my raptor from back then?" Mobius asked himself.

"Well" Gasco began "Maybe this will help".

She pressed a button on the remote again and the image of Mobius' raptor changed to an emblem of an eagle with a grey body and golden yellow head and wings over layering a black and orange cross with an arced ribbon under it that read "156th Tactical Fighter Wing".

"The 156th Tactical Fighter Wing" Mobius muttered before everything began spinning around him. Placing his hand against his head Mobius began muttering rapidly "156th Tactical Fighter Wing, 118th Tactical Fighter Wing, ISAF…Indepen…Independent State Allied Forces…" the pilot's voice became hollow and his breathing shallow "Mobius 1…ISAF…I'm?...What? The 156th Tactical Fighter Wing…Yellow…Yellow Squadron…"

Mobius fell to his knees, clenching at both sides of his head grunting loudly. Mobius struggled against the pain in his head until it subsided and he muttered "Yellow".

"I take it you remembered something?" Gasco asked him.

Breathing heavily, Mobius nodded "Yeah. Not just one thing, two things. That emblem belongs to Yellow Squadron, The best fighter squadron that ever existed".

"Is that it?" Gasco asked.

Mobius shook his head "Yellow Squadron was shot down and killed during the siege of Farbanti, none of them ejected in time before their planes were destroyed".

"Are you sure about that?" Gasco asked him.

"More than sure" Mobius nodded before he looked at her "I'm the one who shot them down".

Mobius looked back to the hologram of Yellow Squadron's emblem just as the ship's alarm began ringing and the captain ordered the dread teams to launch.

Slowly turning around Mobius steeled himself and walked out of Reg central heading for the hangar.

Entering the hangar, Mobius walked over to his raptor which had several engineers swarming over it.

"Can it fly?" he asked one of them.

One of them replied timidly "Yes, but its not fully armed".

"How armed is it?"

The engineer looked over her shoulder at the F-22 and then back to Mobius "I think we topped off the guns, but we only managed to load a few missiles into the loading bay".

"Good enough" Mobius said before walking past the engineer and climbing into his fighter "Mobius 1 launching".

The engines of the F-22 roared to life as the fighter jet blasted out of the ship's hangar and into space flying far to the left of the dread formation.

Spotting the sphere shaped enemy holding its position far ahead of them, Mobius squinted his eyes "How about you tell me what you know about Yellow Squadron" he muttered to the sphere.

The sphere started advancing at that moment, tentacles sprouted from all over it before they sharpened and angled into arcing blades.

"A sea urchin!?" Jura gasped from her dread "Hey are we seriously going to fight that thing?"

"Just calm down Jura" Meia ordered "Stay focused, team leaders check your formations. All units prepare to attack!"

Once the dread teams began attacking, Mobius followed, waiting for an opening of his own to attack the enemy.

The first wave of dreads launched an all out attack against the enemy, but the spikes around it blocked all of their shots.

"The needles just blocked our shots" Jura said after the first attack run failed.

"This is a really bad alien!" Dita cried as the sphere shaped enemy moved past the dread formation and attacked the ship.

After striking the ship, the enemy turned around for another run, evading all attacks by the dreads.

"Meia let's get Mr. Alien out here" Dita suggested.

"No!" Meia barked "He's one of our enemies because he's a man. Don't forget that. We'll defeat this enemy on our own" the pilot then muttered "I don't need anyone's help".

Mobius activated his radio "So does that include me as well?"

Meia gasped and narrowed her eyes when she heard Mobius' voice.

"If you really think you can handle this on your own I'll just return to the ship and leave it to you" Mobius waited for Meia's response, but she said nothing "So what's it going to be? You going to handle this yourself or are you going to realize you're being childish and putting everyone in danger".

Meia growled after the enemy evaded her attack and struck the ship again "I don't need the help of a man, we can win this battle without you".

"If you say so" Mobius muttered casually before turning his fighter around and flying away from the ship giving the dreads plenty of room to attack and defend as needed "I'll just wait here until you or the enemy is dead".

Meia didn't answer, she continued to chase after the enemy along with the rest of the dread pilots, but the enemy continued to block and evade all of their attacks.

Watching how the enemy suddenly switched from blocking attacks to evading Mobius began to think it maybe wasn't completely invulnerable.

"Ms. Gasco I've got an order to go!" Barnette yelled over the radio, shortly after Ms. Gasco's voice answered "Alright girls just sit tight".

Ms. Gasco's delivery ship launched from the bottom of the ship and flew toward the battle and the dreads began attaching to it for rearming.

"Alright girls let's do this in one go" Ms. Gasco told the pilot as the rearming began "Fifteen seconds for complete delivery".

"Hey watch out!" Hibiki yelled from inside the delivery ship.

The spherical enemy turned and began heading for the unprotected delivery ship.

"I don't think so!" Mobius yelled flying down at the enemy from an angle scoring a missile hit against the enemy's unprotected side forcing it off its course.

"So you do have a weak spot" Mobius smirked "Why bother evading attacks if your spikes just block them? It means that certain parts of you are still vulnerable, and thanks to Meia's stubbornness I was able to figure out which parts those were".

"Now that I know where your weak spots are" Mobius said as he turned his fighter "I can destroy you".

Flying head on toward the enemy Mobius squinted his eyes; hovering his thumb over the missile fire button on his flightstick as he got closer to the enemy.

Once Mobius was in range to fire his missiles, the enemy started spinning rapidly forcing Mobius to break away at last second.

Mobius chuckled "So you've got some intelligence to you huh? Alright let's see how good you really are".

Mobius turned again to press his attack just as Gasco finished her delivery.

The Reg leader smiled "Delivery complete, give 'em hell girls".

The dreads detached from the delivery ship and reentered the battle, flying toward the enemy.

Inside the delivery ship, Hibiki looked down at the console "We still got a shipment left".

"Oh do we?" Gasco asked casually "Well we brought it all this way we might as well use it".

Pointing her thumb over her shoulder, Gasco motioned for Hibiki to stand behind her seat and a small hatch opened leading him down to the side of the delivery ship where his Vanguard was waiting. Gasco's voice spoke to him through the Vanguard's radio "You're not really suited to be a stage hand so I think its better to leave you on the front lines".

Hibiki smirked and ran his finger under his nose "I'll show you what I'm really capable of".

The Vanguard launched from the delivery ship and entered the battle chasing after the spherical enemy along with the dreads.

"It's Mr. Alien!" Dita cheered after seeing the Vanguard.

Once the Vanguard entered the fray, the enemy stopped pursuing Mobius and shifted its attention to Hibiki. "What's wrong, you don't wanna play with me anymore?" Mobius asked as the enemy after it turned away from him.

Mobius turned to reengage, the enemy, but something on his radar caught his eye.

"There's another enemy signature on radar" Belvedere cried from the ship's bridge.

"_What is this feeling?"_ Mobius wondered after feeling a strong cold chill run over him "Whatever that thing is its dangerous" he muttered to himself.

"I'll take on the newcomer, you guys can handle this one" the ISAF pilot told his comrades before flying off to face the new enemy.

"I don't know what you are" Mobius muttered to himself "But I know where you came from. And if you think you can get me to believe you're some ghost from my past, you've got another thing coming".

Flying straight on against the enemy, Mobius banked to the side at last second to get a good look at his target. It was a black, brown and white camouflage paint scheme with a yellow paint at the tip of its wings. It was the signature aircraft of the 156th Tactical Fighter Wing in the Federal Erusean Air Force, an Su-37 Terminator.

"So I wasn't the only one then" Mobius muttered to himself after he saw the paint scheme and emblem on the enemy "Ghost or not I won't back down".

Sharply turning his fighter Mobius got behind the enemy Terminator and gained a quick lock immediately firing a single missile and his modified 20mm Vulcan machine gun.

The enemy evaded the missile, but the gunfire grazed its wing forcing it to the side for a quick strafe run by Mobius' gun. After destroying the Su-37, Mobius turned back to watch the dreads and Vanguard finish the spherical enemy.

The Vanguard had combined with Meia's dread and transformed into a silver dragon looking fighter with unbelievable acceleration. It was easily faster than Mobius' fighter and definitely faster than the enemy, there was no doubt that this battle was over.

Inside the new fighter, Hibiki was sitting on Meia's lap as the two pilots leveled the fighter behind the enemy after it fired all of its spikes in a last attempt to defend itself.

"This is exactly what I've been waiting for!" both pilots screamed at the same time as their fighter flew at supersonic speeds toward the enemy before piercing through and destroying it.

Watching from his raptor, Mobius scoffed with a half smile "This Sci-Fi crap is starting to annoy me" the pilot's smile faded as he stared off into space "I don't want to believe it, but this is real isn't it? There's no way I'm dreaming, but if that's the case then why me? Is there a reason this happened to me?"

"Hey you alright in there?" Jura's voice asked.

Hearing the blonde pilot's voice, Mobius snapped himself back to reality and answered "Yeah, just thinking about a few things".

"Oh?" Jura asked seductively "Feel like sharing?"

Mobius gave a friendly scoff "Maybe some other time".

Everyone returned to the ship and the day continued as it did before the attack. Hibiki returned to his room in the brig, tiredly collapsing on his bed before Dita barged in and gave him a boxed lunch she had made for him.

Meia had also returned to her room and kept the lights off as she stared at a closed box on her nightstand.

Mobius had once again entered the cafeteria and walked over to the coffee maker and grabbed a clean mug from the side of the counter before pouring some coffee into it.

Holding the mug closely under his chin the pilot exhaled slowly "I'm not the only one" he said, staring into the coffee in his mug "Yellow Squadron is here to. I know I shot them down over Farbanti, how many pilots were in Yellow? How many will I face? And then there's those machines…they have flight data from Yellow Squadron programmed into them. Does that mean they'll fly and fight like they did? I'll be fine, but if that's the case then things will only get harder for the rest of them".

Finishing his coffee, Mobius returned to the brigand entered the cell that was his room before lying on the cot that served as his bed "Whatever's waiting for me, I won't stray from my path" he muttered to himself "Even if I never remember my name or my past, I still have a job to do and I intend to see it through".

On the bridge Parfet was talking to the captain through Pyoro, she asked the captain to view the list of names she gathered over the day and select one to be the ship's new name. After a quick glance through the list the captain zeroed in on one "The Nirvana huh?" the captain asked.

"Yes ma'am" Parfet replied "The Commander suggested that name and Mobius also put a vote on it".

"Well then its settled" the captain said "From now on this ship will be named the Nirvana".

As the day drew to a close the ship, now known as the Nirvana continued to fly through space, continuing its journey back to Mejerian space.


	6. I'm Not Afraid

The Nirvana, a new ship made from the power of the peksis after it fused together the remains of an old colonization ship and pirate ship used by renegade pirates from Mejere. After being thrown across the galaxy by a so far unknown force, it now journeys through space to return home to Mejere and warn them on an impending threat of destruction by a race of machines that have attacked them several times.

While they still don't know much about their enemy, the crew of the Nirvana does know that they are dangerous and relentless. After their first encounter with these machines they learned that the enemy has declared the destruction of both Mejere and Tarak.

With knowledge of this they must race across the galaxy to warn their home before its too late, but the enemy continues to meet them at every turn, ever persistent in their attempt to destroy them.

The Nirvana is currently holding its position over a planet that looks like it's completely covered in a desert. Inside the ship's conference room, the ship's captain Magno Vivan and her second in command Buzam A. Calessa or BC as the captain refers to her were having a meeting to discuss recent events and the planet they just found.

In the center of the table, a device showed an image of the planet they found, as well as rough images of a decayed and half buried city on the surface.

"This planet" BC said, staring at the image "It appears to be dead".

The sub commander looked to her captain "I suggest a surface investigation, we might find something useful".

"I'm not too worried about you going BC" the captain began "But I'm more worried about the other, more specifically Meia and Mobius".

BC looked back to the image of the planet "I know what you mean. Just what was he doing the other day?"

There was a knock at the door "Enter" the captain said to whoever was on the other side.

The door slid open and the pilot Mobius One was standing there with the same hard and closed door expression that the crew has come to expect from him "You wanted to see me captain?"

The captain nodded, "Yes, please has a seat" the captain told him.

The ISAF pilot walked to the side of the table and sat down without saying anything.

Once the pilot was seated, the captain said, "I asked you here Mobius to explain yourself for the other day".

"I'm afraid I don't follow captain" Mobius replied, keeping the same bottom line tone he always used.

The captain had her own cold tone "A few days ago during the attack, you separated from the rest of the formation and began firing your weapons wildly".

"Captain?" Mobius asked, clearly confused to what she meant.

The captain looked to her second in command "BC".

BC pressed a button next to the table's projector and showed a recording of the battle earlier that week.

The dreads were engaging the sea urchin enemy that attacked them and Mobius flew off and away from the fight attacking an invisible entity.

"That can't be right" Mobius muttered "There was a second enemy out there I saw it".

"Are you sure about that?" the captain asked him "I can assure you; even though some of the ship's systems are still malfunctioning the cameras are working just fine".

Mobius shook his head "No, I know what I saw. There was another fighter out there! It was a Su-37, I destroyed it".

The table projector played a recording of Mobius' radio chatter during the battle _"I'll take on the newcomer. You guys can handle this one"_.

"I'm sorry" BC apologized "But there was no second enemy. You were imagining things".

"Then what about the radar ping?" Mobius asked "I saw the target on my radar. One of the bridge operators even spotted it. I heard her say there was another enemy signature on the radar".

Both BC and the captain looked at each other with cold expressions.

"Mobius" the captain began, looking back to the pilot "No one on the bridge announced the presence of a second enemy".

Mobius fell silent, his right hand was resting on the table's edge and slowly began curling into a fist "Are you sure?" he asked in an anxious tone.

The captain closed her eyes "I am. After you separated from the group you muttered something that your radio picked up".

After the captain finished speaking, BC played another recording of Mobius' radio _"I don't know what you are, but I know where you came from. And if you think you can get me to believe you're some ghost from my past, you've got another thing coming!"_

BC looked over to the ISAF pilot "The other pilots were busy dealing with the enemy, so they didn't pay much attention to what you were doing, but the captain and I are worried about your mental health. If you really are hallucination then you shouldn't be".

"I'm not hallucinating!" Mobius yelled.

BC gasped silently at Mobius' outburst, but the captain didn't react to it she simply closed her eyes and said, "I'm sorry Mobius, but we can't risk it. You clearly saw something that wasn't there, maybe your memory is coming back, but in the heat of the battle you imagined another enemy. If this is the case then it can't be helped, but we still need to be on the safe side".

The captain opened her eyes again "I want you to go see Duelo in the infirmary and have him make sure your mental health is sound. It doesn't matter what's causing this, if it continues you'll be a liability in battle and I cannot allow that. Until the doctor assures me that your mind is intact I cannot allow you to pilot your fighter into battle".

"So you're grounding me?" Mobius asked before sighing "Guess I better go see Duelo then".

The pilot got up and saluted the captain before turning around and walking out of the conference room.

In the ship's hangar, Hibiki was repairing the Vanguard which sustained minor damage in the most recent battle. Even though the repairs were finished in under an hour the young pilot looked extremely exhausted. Closing a panel on the Vanguard's arm the pilot sighed "They sure drive people hard around here don't they partner?" he asked his Vanguard.

Hibiki was draped his arms over the Vanguard's shoulder and closed his eyes for a few seconds until Dita snuck up behind him and called out to him making him fall.

After falling from the Vanguard, Hibiki looked at the ceiling and began mumbling "Maybe I'm just not eating right".

Dita stood over the raven haired teen with a confused look on her face "Are you ok?" she wondered after seeing the exhausted expression he wore.

Hibiki tilted his head back and got a look up Dita's dress, but was too tired to react to the girl's presence, instead his stomach growled and Dita smiled "If you're hungry I could make you something".

Hibiki didn't reply, he closed his eyes and sighed before getting to his feet and sluggishly walking out of the hangar and to the infirmary.

In the Medical Bay, Duelo was busy attaching small sensors to Mobius' forehead and temple "These sensors will scan and monitor your brain waves and determine if there are any irregularities or damage that could cause hallucinations".

Mobius replied "Well let's hope they do it quick because they are very itchy" he then looked at the ceiling "They said I was seeing things, but I really feel like I saw a second enemy…Am I really losing it?"

"I can't say for sure" Duelo told him "But I can guess as to what caused it" the doctor sat down in his chair and faced the pilot "You said that you recently remembered something important from your past right?"

Mobius nodded, "Yeah. An enemy squadron I faced and defeated. I saw…thought I saw one of them".

Duelo hummed "Well it is possible that the recovery of that certain memory may have temporary lapse in your reality".

Mobius chuckled weakly "I'm really not feeling well doc, English please".

Duelo half smiled "What I mean is you know the memory you recovered is important and in your struggle to regain the rest of your memory you use the one you regained as a base to try and remember the rest. The battle may have triggered a sub conscious memory of a previous battle and made you see a second enemy approaching".

Mobius thought for a second before replying "So you're saying that since I was focusing on the battle, my mind is still trying to piece back all of my memories. And in the heat of the battle, my sub conscious argh…" Mobius gently pressed his fingers against both sides of his forehead.

Duelo explained, "Simply put, sub consciously your mind is still trying to remember what it forgot and since you've obviously seen many battles it became confused between the flashes of your past and made you think there was a second enemy…of course this is only speculation".

Mobius nodded his head to the side "Well it sounded like it made sense" the pilot scoffed "I can definitely remember that Yellow Squadron was dangerous, no other pilot could even graze them, they were feared by everyone. And since the enemy we faced that day was causing so much trouble I can see why it would've been easy for my mind to get confused".

"Did you fear them?" Duelo asked "Yellow Squadron I mean".

Mobius shook his head "I can't say. All I remember is I faced and defeated them. I can't remember what I was feeling when it happened".

The infirmary door opened and a very tired Hibiki walked in "Hey doc, I'm not feeling too well".

Duelo motioned Hibiki toward an empty bed and asked the pilot to take his clothes off so he could examine him.

"Take my clothes off?" Hibiki asked in a nervous tone.

"What's the matter Hibiki?" Mobius asked "We're all men here right?"

Hibiki lowered his head "I guess you're right, but…"

"You don't have to remove all your clothes" Duelo told him "Just your shirt and pants, I want to make sure your muscles are working properly, if they aren't it would explain your fatigue".

Mobius turned his eyes to the doctor "If his muscles weren't contracting properly wouldn't he feel a bit of pain along with that?"

Duelo nodded, "Yes, but in some cases of fatigue the patient in question will sometimes be too exhausted to notice it until it reaches higher levels".

"So you just want to be sure is all since he's not complaining of any pain?" Mobius asked.

Once again the doctor nodded "Yes. Its unlikely, but I like to be thorough".

Hibiki stripped off all his clothes except what looked like a pain of underwear with a long flap on the front side before sitting on the bed.

After Duelo attached the same type of sensors to Hibiki that he did to Mobius he moved his hand down to Hibiki's leg and gently clenched his fingers around it to make sure his muscles were firm and contracting properly before moving his hand closer to the pilot's nether regions.

Noticing Duelo's hand getting closer, Hibiki panicked and backed away "Hey just what do you think you're doing?" he yelled.

"Examining you" Duelo replied in an unconcerned tone.

"There's no need for that doc" Hibiki said sheepishly "I'll be fine really".

"You mean except for the exhaustion" Duelo corrected.

"Well fighting side by side with those women is no picnic doc" Hibiki said "Someone's gotta protect them".

Duelo smiled and placed his hand around his chin "Hmm so you're fighting to protect them?"

Hibiki blushed "Well you see the thing is I'm stronger than they are so…" the pilot began to stutter and the pulse monitor next to him began beeping rapidly as his heart rate increased.

"Maybe we should change topics" Duelo told him.

That's when Paiway, the young girl who originally served as the ship's very inexperienced nurse who assisted Duelo as well as occasionally spy on the entire crew popped in and looked at the pulse monitor.

"What's this?" she asked pointing at the machine "Some kind of video game?"

"You've never seen a pulse monitor before?" Duelo asked her.

Paiway's expression changed from curious to annoyed "What's it to you if I haven't?"

"I thought you were supposed to be a nurse?" Mobius asked from his bed as he stared at the ceiling "How do you not know what a pulse monitor is?"

"I am a nurse" Paiway fired back "Besides you don't need something like this. All health problems can be fixed by the Jacuzzi".

"Ja…cu…zzi?" Duelo repeated.

Mobius quickly sat up "There's a Jacuzzi on this ship?"

Paiway turned to look at him "Yep, its Meia's favorite. It's down in the spa area of the ship".

Mobius bumped his eyebrows up "Huh?" he said curiously before slowly lying back down.

Paiway smirked "Well don't get any ideas, the spa is off limits to men".

Mobius scoffed with another smile "Yeah I kinda figured it would be".

Down in the spa, many of the women were relaxing. Some were having their nails done while others were bathing in the Jacuzzis.

In one of the chair's Jura was wrapped in a towel and one around her hair while the attendants treated her. One was massaging her shoulders while another filed her nails and a third rubbed lotion over her skin.

"I love all of you" Jura moaned as the attendants cared to her "Space combat damages my hair and I can always count on you to fix me".

"Don't worry Jura" one of the attendants told her "We won't stop until you've returned to your original beauty".

Jura smiled before noticing Meia in the Jacuzzi a few feet away from her "Meia you're trying to lose more weight?" she gasped.

The blue haired pilot lowered herself a bit more in the water "Excess body fat will slow you down in combat".

Jura continued to protest "That may be, but you won't have any breast left if you keep that up".

Meia smiled "Don't worry about me I'll be fine".

On the bridge, the operators were busy trying to scan the surface of the planet they found.

"Heat signature detected" Belvedere announced.

Ezra looked at the radar readings "There's a sandstorm raging so I can't be certain, but the scanners have picked up what looks like an artificial structure".

BC was standing next to the captain "We should investigate, there might be something useful".

The captain hesitantly agreed "Our kitchen is running low on supplies" her tone quickly changed to a more enthusiastic one "Oh well, we'll just have to do things like old fashioned pirates".

BC smiled before turning to the operators "Begin monitoring the weather patterns. Determine the best time to send out a recon party".

Back in the infirmary, Mobius was still lying on the bed waiting for Duelo to finish examining his mental well being when BC made an announcement over the speakers "Attention all pilots and crew members. We're going to investigate a planet shortly; therefore all crew members are to begin simulation runs of the Vanguards".

"What!?" Hibiki yelled "Women are going to using the Van-Types?"

The young pilot ran out of the infirmary leaving Mobius and Duelo behind.

"Well I guess that's one good thing about currently being grounded" Mobius said.

"What's that?" Duelo asked him.

The ISAF pilot turned onto his side to look at the doctor "I refuse to pilot anything other than my raptor, captain's orders or not I just won't feel right flying anything else".

Duelo smiled "I see well if that's your choice. As far as I can tell your mental health is fine, there's no sign of any lasting damage from your injury and nothing to indicate a cause to your hallucination, but I'd suggest you to take it easy for a few days just to be sure".

Mobius got up from the bed "Well I guess I can do that, as long as the enemy doesn't attack I won't have a problem just relaxing for a day or two".

Duelo's smile faded "Your loyalty and willingness to protect the ship is admirable, but you have to consider your own health. If this happens again in a battle you'll become a liability that could get other killed as well as yourself".

Mobius looked over his shoulder at the young doctor "I know, but flying is the only time I feel at peace with anything. Even if there's a battle going on. I just…I feel like if I'm not out there then we'll lose" Mobius paused and looked forward "I don't know if that's arrogance or just me wanting to protect everyone, but I feel that way regardless".

Duelo then asked, "If that's the way you feel then why would you refuse to fly anything other than your fighter?"

Mobius looked up at the ceiling with a faint smile "That's just stubborn preference".

Mobius then followed Duelo to the training deck where several pilots were beginning their simulations of the Vanguards before the mission.

"Wow they suck" Mobius noted after seeing how pitifully the women were performing in the simulations "This is almost sad to watch".

"That's it!" Jura yelled from inside her pod before opening the door "This thing is just incapable of moving with the slightest bit of elegance. I'm leaving".

"Don't you need permission to do that?" Pyoro asked from the observation room.

"Oh be quiet you!" the blonde haired pilot snapped before leaving the room.

"At least she knows her limits" Mobius said "Even if it is the wrong kind of limit".

The ISAF pilot was watching Meia's performance with a much greater interest than the others. She had the lowest performance skill of anyone else, she started out well, but her reaction time and maneuvers quickly declined. Her pulse also began climbing at an alarming rate.

Inside the simulations pod, Meia was breathing heavily, her eyes had widened and cold sweat was pouring from her forehead. The simulation showed an enemy attempting to dive bomb her from head on, but Meia didn't move at all until it was too late.

Also noticing this, Duelo contacted Meia from the observation room's console "Are there medical overrides on Mejere?"

Meia gasped and looked down at the small screen showing the long haired doctor.

"On Tarak" Duelo continued "Doctors are given the authority to ground pilots who are in situations similar to yours. Do you want that?"

"Of course not!" Meia growled.

Duelo resigned his argument and advised Meia to try widening her field of vision to lessen the strain on her eyes and body, but she wouldn't listen and started the simulation again only to fail a second time even quicker.

Concerned with her behavior, Duelo left the observation room to go and ask Meia in person what was slowing her down. While the doctor left, Hibiki had also grown bored of watching and turned to leave only to walk right into Jura, planting his face right in between her breast.

"Well hello there" Jura said in an almost singy song tone "Next time we go out, you'll be combing with me. I hope you remember that".

The blonde pilot walked away, freeing Hibiki from her chest while also leaving him completely oblivious to what had just happened.

Mobius silently chuckled to himself _"Oh if he only knew how happy that would've made most men"_. Turning his head back to the simulations room, Mobius watched Duelo stand next to Meia's pod as it opened, the pilot inside was leaning against the console breathing even more heavily than before.

"Your condition seems to be psychosomatic in nature" Duelo told her "Your pulse readings are dangerously high. Any idea to what caused this?"

Meia had a smug smile on her face "Your readings couldn't be more wrong, its clearly just fatigue".

"An adamant denial" Duelo noted before Meia snapped again.

"Its just fatigue!" the pilot got out of the pod before storming out of the room only to be met by Mobius in the next hall "What do you want?" she asked him in the same hostile tone she used before.

Mobius had a small smile on his face "Someone's claustrophobic" he said in a mocking, singing tone.

Meia's eyes widened, but she still glared at the ISAF pilot before walking around him "What do you know?" she asked arrogantly as the ISAF pilot watched her leave with a cocky smile.

After Meia left, Mobius dropped his smile and narrowed his eyes to a judgmental glare "Just what are you hiding from?" he asked himself as he watched the blue haired pilot disappear around the corner.

Mobius reentered the observation room and opened a radio channel to the bridge.

On the bridge, a giant screen showing Mobius appeared over head "Captain" the pilot addressed.

The aged pirate looked up to him "Yes? What is it?"

Mobius voiced his concern "I'm worried about Meia. She's acting strangely".

The captain hummed "Oh? How so?"

"I'm not sure if you're aware of it" Mobius began before looking to the door of the observation room to make sure he was alone "But she has a severe case of claustrophobia. I advise you exclude her from the upcoming mission. The Vanguard cockpits are very confined spaces, she can't even complete twenty second in the simulation program, and I can't imagine it'd end well in the real thing, especially if there's something waiting for us down there".

The captain closed her eyes to think, "I see what you mean. I was aware of her condition, but didn't realize it was so severe. If you really believe it's for the best I'll see to it she's excluded from the mission".

Mobius nodded "Roger that captain. I don't think it would be rise to take such a risk over a recon mission".

The screen showing Mobius vanished, but was immediately replaced by one showing Hibiki who quickly called out "Hey old lady are you there?"

"There's an old lady right here" Magno replied "What is it you want little one?"

Hibiki began yelling "Tell your people to stop messing with the Van-types this is really starting to piss me off" the pilot looked to the side with a scowl on his face "Also I want you to…" Hibiki heard Dita's voice and panicked "Oh crap she's here!" he gasped before running off screen, leaving Magno smirking and BC confused as to what just happened.

"It sure has gotten lively around here since we captured those men" the captain chuckled.

In the ship's cafeteria Barnette was in an apron standing over a stove cooking a bunch of food. "Why are you in such a rush Jura?" she asked.

"It's so I can combine with the Vanguard" Jura told her "Dita managed to captivate Hibiki and place him under her control entirely with a simple boxed lunch. If I present him with some of your cooking Barnette he won't be able to resist".

"You mean that's the only reason I'm doing this?" Barnette asked angrily.

Jura turned to her friend and seductively asked "Well you do love me when I'm beautiful don't you Barnette?"

"Don't mind me" Mobius said the second he came around the corner and grabbed a plastic cup from a shelf.

"What are you doing here?" Barnette asked in a very hostile tone.

"I've come to spy on you" Mobius replied in his signature blank, sarcastic tone.

Barnette's glare worsened and even became a little threatening as she watched the ISAF pilot walk away.

"You can undress me with your eyes all you want" Mobius called over to her as he stood in front of the coffee maker "No still means no".

Barnette scoffed "Hmph I can barely stand the sight of you as it is. Why would I possibly want to see you without clothes?"

Mobius walked back by the two pilots with a small, pleased smile "You'll find out one day".

After leaving the cafeteria, Mobius made his way to the bridge to watch the upcoming mission.

After Mobius entered the bridge, BC had given the order for the Vanguards to launch.

"So what's down there exactly?" Mobius asked the sub commander.

BC looked over her shoulder to see him before returning her eyes forward "An artificial structure, most likely the remains of a buried city".

"Hmm" Mobius acknowledged "Sounds boring, glad I'm not participating".

"About that" BC replied before turning to look at him "Duelo's report said your mental health is just fine, but you didn't train in the Vanguard simulations".

Mobius nodded "Yeah I'm not piloting anything other than my raptor, sorry. Besides I should remain here in case we get attacked again".

"I see your point" BC said before checking the monitors as the Vanguards landed on the planet's surface.

"Careful, the sand isn't stable" Barnette warned as her Vanguard slid down a sand covered dune.

"This place is completely deserted" Jura noted after seeing the condition of the buildings "Come to think of it, I don't think anyone's lived here in years".

"Don't wander off on your own" Hibiki cautioned before his Vanguard slipped on the loose sand and fell.

Jura's Vanguard kneeled over him "Hey" she said seductively "Can't we hurry up and get to it?"

Hibiki's face turned bright red "Hey what are you doing!?"

Dita stepped over to them "Hold it!" she cried "The only one Mr. Alien is going to combine with is me".

"Who do you think you're talking to?" Jura asked her.

"Will the two of you shut up!" Hibiki yelled before activating the Vanguard's main thrusters and taking off.

Once the Vanguard flew above building level a net of lasers covered the area and the Vanguard was shot down.

"An AA defense?" Mobius gasped from the Nirvana's bridge.

"There's some kind of defense program on the surface" Aramone announced.

Belvedere continued "The landing party appears to be trapped".

"Landing party!" BC cried "Do you copy?"

"What's going on?" Jura yelled after the surface defense system targeted her.

Barnette's screen appeared next to Jura's "This barrier has us completely trapped!"

Dita's screen appeared as well "Mr. Alien is really hurt, he needs help".

"Just calm down everyone" BC told them "What's the situation?"

"I don't know" Barnette cried "The sand's attacking us now".

"The sand?" BC repeated in disbelief.

"This is Meia, does anyone copy?"

"What the hell is she doing out there!?" Mobius yelled after seeing Meia's vital signs appear on Duelo's terminal.

"She's pushing herself" the doctor said quietly. Seeing how fast Meia's pulse was climbing the doctor yelled into the console "No Meia do you hear me!? You have to turn on your monitor, look as far away as possible! Meia do you copy?"

Down on the planet's surface, Meia's entire body was shaking as she reached for the monitor controls "Why can't he just mind his own business?" she said to herself as she turned on the Vanguard's monitors.

Looking out into the distance to relieve the stress from her phobia, Meia spotted something moving in the sand. "What is that?" she wondered before a large pile of sand took the form of a Vanguard and attacked her, completely covering her Vanguard.

"Meia's mecha has disappeared from the radar!" Belvedere said turning to face BC.

"What?" the sub commander gasped.

Duelo also had bad news "The pilots are hopelessly confused, we need to do something they're in grave danger".

Ezra cried, "I've spotted an enemy formation on radar, they're heading straight for the Nirvana!"

BC gritted her teeth "Did they…set a trap for us?"

Mobius stepped in front of BC and handed her his coffee, the sub commander looked at him with confusion.

"I'm goin' out" he said as she took the cup from him.

Mobius quickly walked out of the bridge and made his way to the hangar. Climbing inside his F-22 he contacted the bridge "Mobius 1, in position to take off".

Belvedere answered "Roger Mobius, you're cleared to launch".

The F-22's engines roared to life before it flew out of the ship's hangar and into space.

"Enemy formation approaching fast" Ezra cried from the bridge.

"Just focus on aiding the landing party" Mobius told them "Leave this part to me".

As Mobius closed in on the enemy formation, the ground team was fighting for their life against sand clones of the Vanguards which continued to attack and reform after they were hit.

"Dammit, just die already!" Hibiki yelled after swinging his Vanguard's arm at the sand clone causing it to collapse, but another formed behind him.

Barnette, found Meia amidst the chaos and tried to free her from the sand, but the dread leader panicked and tried to fly away only to be shot back down by the defense systems.

After Meia was shot down an alarm began ringing from all around them.

"What is that?" Barnette yelled, hearing the alarm blaring around her.

"The defense system seems to have a self destruct sequence, it's been activated!" Belvedere cried "Three hundred seconds until detonation".

BC yelled, "Ground party you need to leave now. Do you copy?"

Back on the planet's surface one of the sand clones grabbed hold of Dita's Vanguard and began draining energy from it.

"It's copying the Vanguard's data" the pilot yelled "It's as if they're draining our blood from us".

"Dammit" Hibiki growled before he turned to attack another enemy behind him.

"No stop, that's Meia!" Barnette yelled.

Hibiki gasped, "What?"

Barnette continued "The sand's got her under its control, we have to save her".

In space, Mobius engaged the oncoming enemy formation.

"Enemy sighted, engaging!"

Flying head first into the center of the enemy formation, Mobius fired a single missile before switching to his guns and shooting down an enemy right as his missile impacted its targeting, killing two enemies at the same time.

Escaping the center of the enemy formation, Mobius led a train of enemies behind him before decelerating and pulling back hard on his flightstick, looping behind two of the enemies and firing a missile at both of them before performing a wide barrel roll to the right and shooting down another enemy with his guns.

"Enemy formation at eighty percent strength" Belvedere announced from the bridge.

The warning alarm inside the cockpit went off and Mobius squinted his eyes as he watched his radar and waited until the enemy missile was right on top of him before he threw the flightstick to the side to evade. Swinging around, Mobius allowed the enemy to keep pursuing him while he continued to shoot down more and more cube types, evading each attack they made against him.

"Meia's vitals are dropping!" Aramone cried from the bridge.

"_I guess you weren't as strong as you like to pretend to be" Mobius said, standing back to back against Meia._

"_Don't you dare try and lecture me!" Meia fired back "Who do you think you are anyway?"_

_Mobius grunted "I'm not the one lying on the ground waiting to die"._

_Meia gritted her teeth and growled "You're quiet a hypocrite aren't you? You dare to lecture me about acting tough while you walk around the ship all day with a high and mighty attitude doing absolutely nothing, but drinking coffee"._

_Mobius closed his eyes "I'm not the one who's given up"._

_Meia growled, growing angrier, but the second she moved to speak Mobius cut her off._

"_Right now everyone on the ground, including Hibiki is trying to save you, but you're too afraid to accept help from anyone. Right now they're all putting their lives on the line to get you out before all of you are blown up, they're willing to sacrifice themselves to get you out and by giving up on yourself you're spitting on their loyalty all because you're too afraid to open up to people"._

"_I AM NOT AFRAID!" Meia yelled trying to turn around, but she couldn't move "I...I can't move" she said in her head "I can't even move my head"._

"_You're afraid and weak" Mobius said to her in a cold tone before he started walking away from her, keeping his back to her the entire time._

_Meia clenched her eyes shut as she began shaking "I'M NOT AFRAID!" she yelled again._

"_Then prove me wrong" Mobius told her as he continued to walk away and eventually vanish entirely._

"Dammit will you get up already!" Hibiki yelled, bringing Meia back to reality.

The dread leader slowly opened her eyes and saw the sunlight through the sand that covered her Vanguard.

The sand had become frozen and brittle after Hibiki ruptured a nearby nitrogen tank to freeze the enemies and shatter them for good.

"When are you going to get it?" Hibiki yelled at her "Male or female it doesn't matter right now, we're all about to die!" he held out the Vanguard's hand "If you don't want to die here then take my hand!"

Meia weakly reached out the hand of her Vanguard and grabbed onto Hibiki and all of the pilots took off, escaping the defense system's self destruct sequence by mere seconds.

"All Vanguards safe and accounted for" Ezra gasped happily "Enemy formation has also been dealt with, Mobius 1 is returning, no damage to his fighter".

"We've received some data as well" Belvedere announced.

"Read it" BC told her.

"Right" the bridge operator said before reading over the data stream "Attention, the crops this season are red blood cells, white blood cells, platelets, lymph cells etc. This is where the data ends".

BC immediately turned around "Captain this means"

Magno had disgust in her eyes "It seems the enemy intends to harvest us for their own purpose, its clear now they think of us as nothing more than vegetables. If this incident has taught us anything, it's that we're dealing with ruthless and formidable opponents".

In the hangar, the ground party was sitting against large supply crates, all exhausted from their ordeal. Barnette was leaning against the crate while Jura rested her head on her lap. Dita was sitting on her knees with her legs bent away from her and Meia was sitting alone, far from the others resting her arm and head on her left knee.

"Being saved by someone is bad enough" she muttered to herself "But being saved by a man is just a disgrace worst of all it had to be those two" she looked over to Hibiki who was leaning against the safety rail groaning about how sick he suddenly felt.

Mobius' F-22 landed in the hangar and the pilot quickly climbed out and sighed tiredly "I need coffee".

Jura immediately shot up from Barnette's lap and looked at the ISAF pilot and his fighter "Are you telling me you took on those enemies without taking a single hit!?"

Mobius slowly walked away "Coffee now, mission debrief later".

After Mobius left, both Jura and Barnette got up to get a closer look at Mobius' F-22 and sure enough there were no signs of any damage on it.

"I can't believe it" Barnette muttered "He took on an entire enemy formation without getting hit…"

Dita was also curious and got a closer look for herself "Mr. Mobius sure is powerful" she said in amazement after seeing the undamaged fighter.

Hours later, Mobius was still in the cafeteria drinking coffee with a pen in his hand and a book in front of him.

Meia watched him from the doorway. He would occasionally take a sip from his coffee before using his pen to write something on the book in front of him.

"Do you need something?" he asked her casually.

Meia silently gasped; surprised that he was aware of her presence before walking over to him.

The first thing Meia looked at was the twelve empty coffee cups sitting around the table, she then looked at the book Mobius was staring at, a Sudoku puzzle book and the third thing was a pair of military dog tags, the ones Mobius wore everyday.

"Well?" Mobius asked without looking at her.

Meia steeled herself "You were wrong about me" she said.

Mobius had placed his pen to the book and drew a seven in one of the boxes before looking up to her with a confused expression.

"When you said I was giving up" Meia explained "You were wrong".

Mobius continued to look at her for a brief second before he took a slow breath "I don't know what you're talking about" he told her calmly.

Meia withdrew half an inch _"Did I imagine it?"_ she asked herself.

"You had a hard day" Mobius told her "Get some sleep".

Meia didn't respond, she turned around with an unsure expression and walked away.

After the dread pilot left, Mobius said to himself, "Maybe I was wrong. Or…maybe I motivated you through anger, I wonder which it is?" The ISAF pilot drew a one in the final box, completing the puzzle in front of him before looking up to the ceiling with a pleased, successful smile.

* * *

><p><strong>AN.** I want to apologize for taking so long to update as of late. I really needed a break from writing, as much as I really enjoy doing all of this I got bored for a while and wanted to get away for a time.

I never explained my inspiration for the personality type I'm using for Mobius 1 in this crossover so I figured I'd do that now. My original idea for his personality was to be a carefree type, but I use that in almost all of my OC's plus its exactly how I act most of the time so I wanted to try something different.

I realized I never tried at having a serious character, someone who can be cold or hard, while still having useful insight into a matter, but I didn't want him to be just a straight harda** so I decided to add some sarcasm to him for some variety.

That's when I found my inspiration, I decided to make him a combination of two of my favorite characters. I took the sarcasm of John C. McGinley's character in Scrubs (Dr. Cox) and the serious, bottom-line attitude from Mark Harmon's Leroy Jethro Gibbs from NCIS.

Since nothing is really known about Mobius 1 other than his incredible skill as a fighter pilot, I really wanted to make him someone who refuses to be intimidated and can easily throw off other people by acting like an a** while also being able to inspire others through his skills and loyalty.

As for his name...well...I don't feel like revealing it yet (By that I mean I haven't thought of one)

Thanks to all those who've stuck with it up till' this point, and to those who are just now looking into it, I hope you're enjoying it as well.


	7. Forgiveness

"Surface wound to the head, ruptured spleen and a visibly fractured femur" Duelo was running along side a medical cart that was being rushed to the infirmary.

During an attack, Meia refused to listen to Mobius' advice and was severely injured; right now her life was hanging in the winds.

Along with Duelo, Hibiki and Dita were also running with them, Dita was pleading to Meia, telling her that she'd be fine, just to hand on.

The dread leader watched the ceiling lights flash by her as her vision slowly began fading away.

Seeing Meia slowly start closing her eyes Duelo gritted his teeth and yelled for the emergency room to be cleared. A crewmember walking with a crutch quickly stepped to the side and held the door open for them as they rushed in.

Paiway was inside, she knew someone was hurt, but she didn't know who or how bad. Once she saw that it was Meia, the young nurse's eyes widened in terror.

"Paiway over here I need your help" Duelo calmly yelled as he placed a breathing mask over Meia's face.

The circlet Meia wore dropped off her face and to the floor as Duelo and Paiway rushed to stabilize her.

As the pilot's vision faded completely she sadly muttered "Mo…ther?"

Outside the Nirvana, the remaining dread pilots along with Mobius 1 were continuing to engage the enemy formation.

With Meia out of commission, Jura was left to take command of the dread teams.

The enemy the crew had come to refer to as, The Harvest, had once again attacked them only this time they weren't alone.

A new enemy had appeared with them as well, they were old fighter jets just like Mobius' F-22 only he called them Su-37 Terminators.

There were only three of this new enemy, but their flying skills were on level with Mobius. Easily they evaded every shot from the dread teams before turning to counter attack sending the dread formations into chaos.

"_Listen!" Mobius yelled over his radio "Those three are too dangerous, just leave them to me and focus on the rest of the enemy"._

_Meia growled "I don't need your help! I can handle the enemy just fine by myself"._

_Mobius flew after Meia trying to stop her from engaging the flight of Su-37's "Meia listen to me, if you engage them they will kill you"._

_Meia grunted arrogantly "I don't need a man's help. Least of all yours, I'll prove that I don't need anyone's help"._

"_Meia disengage now!" Mobius barked before Meia's warning alarm went off and she gasped just as a single missile from each Terminator impacted her dread all, but destroying it._

"_Meia!" Mobius yelled before the Terminators turned their attention to him_.

Mobius was engaging the Terminators on his own while the remaining dreads continued to deal with the harvest formation, unfortunately Jura's leadership skills were extremely lacking.

"A-team, switch over to formation Alpha 1 now, B-team…" Jura hesitated to give her orders causing the allied formations to break apart in the confusion and nearly collide with each other.

"Get it together Jura!" Barnette yelled "Your formation is a mess!"

"I know, I just…" Jura was panicking she never lead the dread teams in battle before and with them already at half strength as well as facing a new harvest enemy and the three fighters that shot down Meia, she was afraid of giving orders that would add to the casualty list.

With the dread teams scattered, the enemy made severe hit and run attacks against the Nirvana, causing extensive damage to the ship's shielding.

"The outer layer of our shields has fallen" Belvedere announced from the bridge.

"They're beginning to focus fire on the starboard bow" Aramone said, trying to remain calm.

The panicked voices of the dread pilots overlapped each other; the entire battle was nothing more than a giant mess. The harvest took advantage of the chaos and split into two formations, one to occupy the dread teams and the other to attack the Nirvana.

No one knew what to do at this point and for the first time, everyone saw Mobius' skills strained. The former ISAF pilot was doing everything he could to keep the three Terminators off of the dread teams, but he couldn't defend them and himself at the same time. One of the Terminators would attack the dreads while the other two would trail Mobius and keep him from shooting down the first.

"Dammit!" Mobius yelled as a missile missed the tip of his right wing by mere inches "Amnesia or not, I can't believe I've forgotten how good Yellows were".

Mobius sighed when he saw his fighter's ammo count "Only one missile left…guns are empty, special weapons reserve also depleted. Need to make this one count then".

Accelerating, Mobius continued to follow the three Terminators through every turn and maneuver they made, evading the attacks from the two behind him as the one in front of him continued to avoid a lock on.

Hibiki and Dita finally re-entered the battle and combing to form what the crew had referred to as Vandread Dita.

The giant, blue mech chased after the new harvest enemy before it used its speed to run away leading the Vandread into an asteroid.

Spinning to the side to avoid colliding with the space rock, Hibiki sighed before Jura began mocking him "What was that? Is that all a loud mouth like you can do?"

"Shut up!" Hibiki fired back "Give me advice when you know what you're doing!"

Jura growled "I don't need a man telling me what to do!"

"Then do it!" Hibiki yelled back.

"Enough!" Mobius yelled at both of them as he chased after on of the Terminators that flew right between Jura's dread and the Vandread.

"Hey watch it!" Jura yelled as the Su-37 and Mobius flew between them at top speed.

The two Su-37's chasing after Mobius used the distraction to their advantage and attacked Jura and the Vandread scoring a direct hit on both.

"Dammit" Hibiki yelled "Hey Mobius! How about doing something about your friends here huh!"

Mobius narrowed his eyes as he closed in on the first Terminator "Its called paying attention Hibiki. If you can't keep a position on each of your enemies then go back to the ship".

On the bridge, BC growled in anger at how badly they were losing the current battle "It seems we've been taking Meia's leadership as granted. We neglected to train a sub leader in case she was ever injured".

"Its because that girl wouldn't allow us to" captain Magno told her "She avoided human contact unless absolutely necessary, she avoided relying on people. From the first moment I picked her for this group I knew this day would come eventually".

The captain began remembering when she first met Meia, the girl who came from highly respected parents, before an accident that an entire living sector to collapse. Everyone who once held her with high praise now looked at her with cold hatred.

Meia's own hatred began to form and she turned to street fights and vandalism before Magno found her. The soon to be pirate captain approached her in a scrap yard one day and tossed her a laser ring telling her if she planned to go out, she might as well do it while doing something cool.

Outside the Nirvana the battle reached a turning point.

With the Nirvana's shield continuing to dwindle and the dread teams continued to panic, Mobius began laughing.

"What are you laughing about?!" Hibiki yelled.

"I remember" Mobius said "I remember Yellow squadron. I remember how dangerous they were, but more importantly. I also remembered the other Yellow squadron. The ones who flew the same fighters, the ones who carried the same emblem, but those ones didn't have the skills of the real Yellows".

Finally gaining a lock on his target, Mobius called out "Fox two!" and fired his last missile at the Su-37 in front of him hitting its wing and causing it to spin into an asteroid destroying it.

"Target down!" Mobius yelled as the other two Yellows separated and retreated from the battle.

"The enemy is retreating" Belvedere cried as the enemy formation turned to withdraw from the battle.

"All pilots return to base now!" BC yelled "Hurry before they commence a counter attack!"

Returning to the Nirvana's hangar, Mobius climbed out of his Raptor while the hangar crews worked on rearming his fighter. Mobius was the only pilot to not take ah it during the battle, something that angered Barnette for some reason.

"You must be real proud of yourself" the green haired dread pilot yelled as she walked over to Mobius "The only one who escapes the battle unharmed and all because you went after three enemies instead of the larger force".

Mobius looked at Barnette with a cold, uncaring stare before he looked at the hangar doors, "Coffee time" he said casually before walking away from Barnette and out of the hangar.

Entering the cafeteria, Mobius walked over to the coffee maker and grabbed two 16 oz cups and filled them just below the brim before walking over to the furthest table in the corner and sitting down.

"So I'm not crazy" he said to himself "I may have been imagining that Yellow that one time, but now I know they're definitely here as well. The only question is why are they here? I can tell there's no one inside those fighters, which means they're machines just like the rest of the enemy…but they still fly just as well as the Yellows I fought before. These machines are still an unknown as to their origin, but they have Yellows on their side…does that mean they came from…is that possible?"

Mobius shook his head and stood up "That doesn't matter, I don't care where they came from, how or why they have Yellows on their side" the pilot looked down at his fist as he raised it to chest level and at that moment monitors around the ship began appearing broadcasting Mobius' voice "I may not remember my past, but I should remind the Yellows that they're only the second best pilots to ever fly".

The monitors began showing images from Mobius' past, a massive swarm of fighter jets above a lone island that was being used as a space station. There were overlapping voices from both sides, but the transmission that was clearest was from a member of Yellow squadron.

"_Damn I've been hit! Who shot me?!"_

"_It was the F-22, it has a ribbon"._

"_13 to all Yellows, retreat. They don't need us here anymore"._

_After Yellow squadron retreated from the battle, the ISAF forces won, seeing that the space bound rocket stayed safe along with the launch facility._

Walking away from his table, Mobius quickly downed his second coffee and dropped it in the trashcan as he left the cafeteria, heading for the infirmary.

Once the ER doors opened Mobius asked, "What's her condition?"

Duelo turned around "We've stabilized her and stopped the bleeding, but the real threat is a fragment of the peksis that lodged itself in her skull. It's starting to invade her brain cells in a strange way. I don't know how long her spirit can last under that kind of confusion of her central nervous system being attacked like that".

Mobius looked over to Meia and then closed his eyes with a cold 'Hmph' before he walked over to her and leaned down to whisper in her ear "Prove me wrong".

After Mobius left, the monitors around the ship began showing another memory, this one showed a wave of fighter jets flying over a desert like area heading toward a massive structure with several giant guns around it.

"_Stonehenge sighted, commencing attack"._

"_Remember to keep your altitude below 2,000 or it'll shoot you down"_

_While the fighter pilots were busy splitting up to destroy the SAMs and AA guns littering around the massive Super structure, a single F-22 slipped through the AA net and entered the center of Stonehenge quickly destroying the ring of jammers that protected the super structure._

"_The jammers are down, who took 'em out?"_

"_It was Mobius!" a pilot cheered "Mobius is inside Stonehenge!"_

_Not long after the jammers were destroyed, the first gun fell._

"_The first gun is down! Repeat, the first gun is down!"_

"_Second gun destroyed, Mobius 1 is just tearing through that thing"._

"_Third gun down, wow, he's not stopping"._

"_Fourth gun down, I can't believe this. He's taking that thing down on his own"._

_An enemy transmission was also heard "Someone shoot down that ribbon!"_

"_Fifth and sixth guns down, Mobius is grabbing all the glory!"_

"_They said Stonehenge was indestructible, makes you wonder about the man flying that Raptor huh?"_

_As the seventh and final gun was destroyed a pilot's voice was heard cheering "Target destroyed! I repeated, target destroyed by Mobius 1! We did it! Stonehenge is no more!"_

"_This is SkyEye here" a new voice said "We've confirmed via radar that the target was destroyed, but we've got company. Five bandits incoming at Mach 2, don't worry, our ace is faster than they are. You are all cleared to engage"._

_The five incoming bandits were Su-37 Terminators, with a black and grey camouflage paint scheme with the tips of their wings painted yellow, the infamous Yellow squadron._

_Turning his fighter, Mobius flew straight at the oncoming enemy, targeting a single one and switching to his special weapons reserve. Once the target was in range he fired two XMAA missiles, immediately switching back to his AIM-9M sidewinders and firing two of those._

_The targeted Yellow turned to evade, but the pilot was too slow. The four missiles impacted against the underbelly of the fighter destroying it in a ball of fire and aluminum._

"_Yellow down!" a pilot screamed "I can't believe it! Mobius just shot down a Yellow!"_

Returning to the hangar, Mobius looked over to a member of the hangar crews "Am I good to go?"

The crewman smiled "You're fully armed and fueled, go get 'em".

Mobius thanked the crewman and climbed back into his fighter "This is Mobius 1, I'm taking off".

On the bridge, Belvedere gave the pilot the go ahead "Roger, Mobius 1, you're cleared to take off".

Flying back into the battle, Mobius flew alongside Jura's dread "Have you finally pulled yourself together?"

Jura gave him a cocky smirk "I guess you'll find out now won't you?"

Mobius scoffed "Heh, well then let's see how well you command your squadron then. I'll be fighting alongside you this time, but if Yellow shows up again I'll be going after them".

Jura nodded "That works for me, if you do see them shoot them down for me and Meia will you?"

Mobius accepted her request "You got it, just make sure everyone knows not to engage them if they show up".

The new enemy returned, it duplicated itself into several others before it began its attack along with the rest of the harvest formation. The Nirvana's shields were holding strong, but against the unhindered attack of the entire enemy formation, they were dropping quickly.

Belvedere cried "Shields are down to 20%, the last layer of our main shields has given way!"

"Two enemies approaching from behind the Nirvana!" Ezra cried as well, "It the same two that shot down Meia!"

"That's my cue then" Mobius said before he turned around "I'll see you when it's all over".

Hibiki and Jura smiled at the F-22 as it turned around to defend the Nirvana's rear.

"Alright let's go!" Hibiki roared as the enemy began its next attack.

Hibiki crossed the Vandread's arms over its chest to protect it while the weapons began charging, once they were fully charged the male pilot smirked before he roared and fired every laser on the Vandread at his allies, bouncing the laser fire off their shields and catching the enemy in a net it couldn't escape from before it was destroyed.

On the bridge BC sighed with a smile "Only a man would come up with a plan like that".

Behind the Nirvana, Mobius engaged the two Yellows that escaped earlier quickly and easily evading their attacks without retaliating.

"I've realized something" he said to the ghosts of his past "You may carry the Yellow squadron emblem, but you aren't the real Yellow squadron". Mobius shot down one of the two Terminators before setting his sights on the second one which began retreating.

"I may not remember my entire past, but I remember fighting Yellow squadron, and you're no where near as good as they were".

Switching to his XMAA special weapons, Mobius fired two of them at his target, waiting for his target to turn away to evade the missiles, Mobius fired two AIM-9M Sidewinder missiles forcing the Su-37 to turn yet again before he strafed it with gunfire from his M61A2 Vulcan cannon destroying it.

After both of the targets were destroyed Mobius returned to the Nirvana along with word that Meia had awakened.

"_So have you decided?" Mobius asked Meia._

_Once again the two pilots were standing back to back staring off into the distance ahead of them._

_Meia tried to turn around to look at him, but just like last time she couldn't move. Lowering her eyes she told him "If I could only have one wish…it would be to tell my mother that I'm sorry. I resented her for being so weak, I thought that if I never allowed myself to get attached to anyone or anything, I'd never be hurt and never get sad when they left. I wanted to become strong enough to never be fazed by anything"._

"_That's not possible" Mobius told her. "What you want to be, it doesn't matter how strong or how cold of a person you are. There will always be something strong enough to shake you, its part of being human"._

_Mobius looked up and suddenly the two pilots were staring on the top of a grassy hill while a clear blue sky above them._

"_Meia, you are a strong person, you just don't realize it. The only thing that's holding you back, it isn't you're refusal to open up to people, that's only part of it. What's really holding you back is your own fear. Your fear of failing, your fear of losing and most importantly your fear of being alone. That's why you act the way you do, you've clearly seen something horrible in your life that's affected you deeply and because of that you've shut yourself away from others and your own heart"._

_Mobius looked away from the blue sky and down at his feet "I know what it's like being alone Meia, I still can't remember my past, but there's something in the back of my head, a tugging at my heart that tells me I've also lost something important"._

_Meia raised her eyes and spotted a woman standing at the end of the hills they were standing on even though she could barely see her, she knew who it was "Mother…" she muttered._

_Mobius lowered his head and closed his eyes "Meia, I'm not going to lecture you this time, but trust me when I tell you that you can't do everything alone. Even I need help sometimes"._

_Meia lowered her eyes again, "I…don't want to be alone, but…"_

"_They won't turn their backs on you Meia" Mobius said, "They're all already loyal to you. Right now they're waiting for you to come back; the question is…do you want to keep on living, or do you want it to all end here?"_

_Mobius started walking away as did Meia's mother on the other side of the hill sending a wave of sorrow through the dread pilot._

_Gently clenching her fists Meia began crying "To tell her I'm sorry, that's all I want"._

_Hearing Meia's words, Mobius stopped._

"_I always called her the weak one, but it was really me. I was the one who was weak…not her"._

_Mobius turned around and walked back over to her "Its time to choose Meia, do you remain here, or do you continue on?"_

_Meia looked at her mother again as she continued to walk further and further away and finally Meia made her choice._

"_Mother!" she cried out before running after her "I'm sorry mother! I was wrong, you weren't the weak one, it was me, I'm sorry, I'm so sorry"._

_By the time Meia reached her mother, she was already gone leaving her and Mobius alone on the hilltop._

_Meia dropped to her knees still crying as Mobius walked over to her and held his hand out._

"_Its time to go Meia" he said to her. His voice was different now, it was…gentle and warm._

_Looking up to the man standing over her, Meia took his hand and allowed him to help her to her feet. Meia looked down at her feet as she wiped the tears from her eyes "Thank you" she muttered "I'm…sorry"._

_Meia once again looked up at Mobius' face and finally smiled as her vision began fading._

Opening her eyes, Meia looked up at the infirmary ceiling, the bright lights blinding her. Hearing someone crying she looked to her right to see both Paiway and Parfet with rives of tears streaming from their eyes.

"You two are so noisy" she smiled before placing her hand against her face and realizing her circlet was gone.

"Don't worry" Duelo told her "Its right here". Duelo handed the circlet to Meia "This is something important to you isn't it?"

"No" Meia replied weakly "It's a lesson".

By day's end, the crew had earned a peaceful night. A celebration for surviving their toughest battle yet was held in the cafeteria, everyone except Duelo, Meia and Mobius attended. After the party ended, most of the crew had returned to their quarters, while some just slept were they were.

Jura and Barnette had fallen asleep against each other in the kitchen; Paiway fell asleep in the infirmary while drawing a picture. Gascogne and Parfet were playing cards in Engineering and Dita and Hibiki had fallen sleep at on of the tables in the cafeteria.

Walking over to the two sleeping pilots Meia looked down at Hibiki, a part of her still hated the fact that there were men on the ship, but maybe she thought; just maybe it wasn't as bad as she originally thought. Duelo, Mobius, Bart and even Hibiki, they weren't as bad as she previously believed.

"They all did their best out there today" the captain's voice said to her.

Looking behind her, Meia saw captain Magno walking over to her with Mobius a few steps behind her.

"Captain, Mo…" Meia looked away from Mobius and back to Hibiki who continued to snore as he slept.

"Its ironic" the captain said as she placed Hibiki's jacket over him "He's the exact opposite of you, this passionate fool, but he's won everybody's hearts and right from under our noses. You know Meia you two are a lot alike, you and this rascal. The only difference is how you share your feelings".

"Captain I" Meia began before Magno smiled at her.

"Meia, isn't it time you find some forgiveness? For yourself that is".

Mobius stepped over to Magno "If that's all captain, I'll be going".

Magno turned around and smiled at the former ISAF pilot, "Yes that's all. Good night young man".

Mobius nodded before he saluted the captain and turned around to leave the cafeteria.

After Mobius left, the captain turned back to Meia "That young man is also a lot like you Meia, he's detached from the rest of the world and strongly voices his mind without hesitation of course, he's only detached from the rest of us because he can't remember who he is yet. I'm sure once his memories return he'll allow others to get closer to him".

Meia moved her eyes away from the captain "I'm sorry captain, for the way I've acted".

"Nonsense my dear" the captain replied "You've no need to apologize to me. It's the others you should be saying sorry to, especially Hibiki and Mobius. While you were injured, Hibiki was worried enough to help get you to the infirmary and Mobius, after you were injured his performance increased, he kept the enemy that attacked you from getting anyone else and eventually destroyed them".

The captain continued to smile "He won't show it, but he cares about you, about all of us. I can see it in his eyes and hear it in his voice, whatever his reasons, he wants to protect all of us, man or woman it doesn't matter to him".

Meia rubbed her finger and thumb over her eyes and the captain smiled at her again "Go get some sleep Meia, you'll feel better in the morning".

Meia nodded "Thank you captain and again, I'm sorry".

Magno chuckled quietly "Apology accepted my dear, now go get some rest".

Meia left the cafeteria and found Mobius waiting for her outside the door.

"Walk with me" he said quietly before he turned around and walked away.

Following behind him, the two eventually stopped in the garden sector under the bridge and Mobius looked up at the stars outside the ship "So do you understand now?"

Meia looked away, "I do. I'm…sorry".

"Don't apologize" Mobius told her "Learn from your mistakes and become stronger from them".

Meia kept her gaze away from him, "Thank you, Mobius".

"If you want to thank me" Mobius began "Just remember what I've been telling you, try harder and open up to those around you".

Mobius turned to face her "I still can't remember my entire past Meia, but the flashes and dreams are becoming clearer, I'm starting to remember names of people and places, dates and events. I'll make you a deal Meia, you promise to try and be more open with people. And in return you'll be the first one to know my name when I remember it".

Meia raised an eyebrow with a suspicious smile "That doesn't exactly seem like a fair trade for my efforts".

Mobius held out his hand to her "This is the beginning of something new Meia" he said as she looked down at his hand and then back to him "From now on we stand face to face as equals".

Meia's smile changed and became soft as she grabbed his hand and shook it "As equals then".

Mobius also smiled, not his usual sarcastic or mocking smile, but a sincere one, something no one had seen so far. "Of course I'll still be following my own orders during battles, but other than that, feel free to come speak to me anytime".

Meia scoffed as she shook her head "So?" she asked him "What do you remember so far?"

"Well" Mobius said before he began telling her everything he remembered from his past as the night continued on.

* * *

><p><strong>AN.** And so chapter 7 ends.

I decided to add a memory section of Mobius' destruction of Stonehenge, just because that and the flight against The Invincible (cough cough BullSh*t) Aegir Fleet and the mission to destroy Stonehenge were my favrotie missions from Ace Combat 4.

Meia thought she could take on the ghosts of the elite Yellow squadron, but was promptly shot down. During her life or death struggle, she realized something not only about herself, but about her past as well. Now that the ghosts from her own past no longer haunt her maybe she can become a better person.

And it seems Mobius is beginning to remember more and more of his past, with the confirmation that Yellow squadron as returned to haunt him, will he be able to fight them and the harvest at once? Or will the skills of the greatest fighter pilot that ever lived be stretched to their limits?


	8. Dreams

Mobius shot up to a sitting position, breathing heavily as cold sweat covered his entire body. He had awakened from a dream, the same dream that continued to wake him for the past twelve days, he would see a destroyed city and he was holding the body of a young woman in his arms screaming a silent name before a flash of light blinded him and he awoke.

Mobius leaned his back against the wall next to his bed as he calmed his breathing. Holding his left hand over his face, the pilot closed his eyes shivering from the cold sweat running down his neck and back.

After he calmed down, the pilot got up and looked at the small two drawer table that served as his nightstand. Picking up his watch he saw it 5 a.m. he had only been asleep for four hours.

Placing the watch around his wrist and his dog tags around his neck, the pilot slowly dressed himself before leaving the brig, which continued to serve as the men's quarters.

Dressed in a clean white t-shirt, black shorts, socks and black dress shoes he leaned his head against the wall "Coffee" the pilot sighed as he walked out of the brig, occasionally dragging his feet and slumping against the wall like a zombie.

Entering the cafeteria Mobius walked over to the coffee maker and poured himself a cup.

"You're up early" a voice said to him.

Turning his head to the center table Mobius saw Meia looking at him.

"I couldn't get back to sleep" he said to her as he walked over to her table and sat down.

Seeing the way he was walking and the sweat slowly dripping down his face Meia said, "Either the air conditioning in the brig stopped working or you had a nightmare".

"That obvious huh?" Mobius asked in a half asleep, cold tone "It's the same one every night for the past twelve days or so. It can't just be a nightmare, to throw me off guard so badly that I didn't even notice you when I came in…add to it the sheer sense of dread, pain and terror I feel when I wake from it…it has to be a memory of mine".

Taking a sip of his coffee, Mobius looked at his hand that was holding the cup, it was trembling slightly.

Also noticing it, Meia looked at her own coffee mug "Can you remember anything from it?"

Mobius looked up at her and set his cup down, now holding it with both hand and running both of his thumbs along the brim of the cup "I'm walking down a sidewalk, I'm in a city that I feel like I know, but I can't think of a name. At first I feel happy; I walk into a bookstore and talk with the owner for a while before making a purchase. The strange thing is I can hear the conversation, but I never hear a name. The name of the bookstore, the name of the clerk even when he greets me I hear him say welcome back and then there's silence. Clearly that means I've been there before on numerous occasions, but when he's about to say my name I don't hear anything".

Mobius looked to his left and exhaled slowly "After I finish talking to him and make my purchase he hands me a card of some kind. It's in a plastic gem case to protect it, he also hands me a book and then I leave. I return to a house and head up the stairs to a small room which I'm guessing was my own before I set the card and book inside my dresser".

"After that it's like I skipped forward a day, I'm walking down a sidewalk again, again I feel happy about something that's when…I hear an air raid siren going off around the city, I turn to look at the sky and there's a squadron of bombers with fighter escorts attacking the city. I can hear people screaming as the bombs fall from the sky and the explosions that follow. I'm knocked unconscious by a shockwave from one of them and when I come to they attack is over".

"My vision is blurry and I can hear a constant ringing in my ears, I'm injured and keep falling to my hands and knees as I try to run. I can feel myself yelling for something, but it's silent. Finally I reach a school and go inside, there were bodies lying all over the halls and in the rooms. I'm still yelling, but I still can't hear what I'm saying. Eventually I reach a classroom and see several more bodies inside. I ran over to one of them and dropped to my knees before lifting it up in my arms. I can't see whose face it is or even tell if it's male or female. I shake it and shake it yelling a name I can't hear"

Mobius' voice trailed off as his hands began trembling again "That's when I wake up".

Meia looked back down at her coffee "I can see why you'd be shaken after a dream like that".

Mobius exhaled as he stopped his hands from shaking "I'm hoping Duelo might be able to shed some light on this for me. Maybe tell me why this same dream keeps happening. I can't have something like this happen to me when I'm flying".

"Well I wish you luck" Meia said as she got up "I'll be working on new formation ideas in the planning room for most of the day if you need anything".

Mobius nodded "Yeah, thanks".

After Meia left, Mobius finished his coffee and got to his feet to go see Duelo.

Entering the infirmary, Mobius immediately walked over to the empty bed closest to the main console just as Duelo sat down.

"Is there anything you need?" the doctor asked him calmly.

Mobius sighed silently "Yeah, I need to know if you know of any possible way of forcing a dream to surface".

Duelo turned his chair around and looked at the pilot "What do you mean?"

"I had a dream" Mobius told him "The same one I've been having every night for almost two weeks. I wake up in cold sweats with shallow breath, it's more than just a nightmare, I can tell. I think its one of my memories or at least related to one, but the thing is while in the dream I can hear everything except names. The name of a store or street and the names of people I encounter in the dream. I can hear everything, but names. I'm hoping that if I can somehow watch my own dream while awake I might be able to remember something, whether it's my own name or the name of the city in my dream".

Duelo placed his hand around his chin "I'm not sure. Parfet might be able to make something that can monitor or record your dream. If she can do that I could give you something that will put you to sleep for a while, if you have the dream again we'd be able to record it. Again this is if she can make something that can do that and if you have the same dream".

Mobius hung his head "Well let's hope then because I'm about to lose it. The dream got more and more vivid each night; at first I couldn't hear anything at all. Now I can hear everything, but names" Mobius looked back at Duelo "There's another issue with this dream. Its keeping me from getting sufficient rest, it can't continue. If it does I'll eventually collapse entirely from a lack of sleep, any chance you've got anything to help with that as well?"

Duelo turned back to the console "I might have something to help you sleep more soundly, but it won't stop you from dreaming. There's a lot of medicine on board so I'm sure I can find something that'll help you".

"Thanks Duelo" Mobius replied with a sigh of relief "At this point I'll take whatever help I can get. Go ahead and talk to Parfet when you get a chance, I'd like to get this over with as quick as possible".

"Talk to me about what?" Parfet asked them from the doorway.

Both Duelo and Mobius looked over to the lead engineer who was standing in the doorway with her left hand against her hip "Is there something you need from me?"

Duelo nodded "Yes, Mobius is having a recurring dream that might be one of his memories trying to resurface. Do you think you have anything that can monitor or record dreams in a video feed?"

Parfet hummed as she thought about Duelo's request before answering "I think I might be able to do something, but there's a chance it'll hurt".

"I don't care" Mobius barked "If it hurts, it hurts. I'm not going to let a bit of pain deter me. I'm getting tired of these dreams and I'm damn sure tired of not getting enough sleep every night. This needs to end and quick".

Parfet's smile faded a little "Well if that's how you feel I'll get to work on it right away, but it'll take a few hours so for now just try and relax a bit".

Parfet left to get started on a machine that will record Mobius' dream leaving him alone with Duelo.

Duelo got up from his chair "I'll go check the back room and see if I can find something to help you sleep, of course before we go through with something like this we should inform the captain or the commander. After all there is a chance something like this could go wrong and we should get their approval before proceeding".

Mobius agreed "Yeah, you're right. I'll go talk to the captain and BC. If they agree I'll meet you back here in a couple of hours".

On the bridge, everyone was relaxing. It had been almost ten days since the last enemy attack and things have been really quiet and peaceful.

Belvedere was telling Aramone a joke she knew while Ezra slept at her bridge console. BC stood at her usual spot next to the captain.

"When we're not under attack things certainly get dull around here" the commander sighed.

The captain chuckled "You surprise me BC; I didn't know you were one for all that military bally-hoo".

BC quickly replied "I'm only thinking of the crew's morale captain".

"Our business is pirating BC" the captain said looking to her second in command "Everyone deserves some rest every now and then, even pirates".

BC had an awkward smile as she looked at her boss "Yes, of course captain".

The bridge doors slid open and Mobius walked over to them "Captain, I have a request".

The captain looked down at the fighter pilot "Oh? What is it this time?"

Mobius took a quick breath before he explained the situation to them "I'm having a recurring dream that's keeping me from sleeping, what's more is I think it may be one of my memories trying to come back. I don't know why, but I can tell it's an important one and it's really bothering me. I'd like your permission for Duelo to put me to sleep and Parfet to use one of her crazy machines to record my dream. Hopefully if I watch it while fully conscious I might be able to remember something".

"Why would you ask me for permission on something like that?" the captain asked him.

Mobius immediately told her "Parfet said it could involve pain and possibly damage me mentally. I'm willing to take the risk if you'll allow it".

The captain closed her eyes "You're sure you're willing to take a risk like that?"

Mobius nodded "I am, it's important I know what that dream is about".

"Very well" the captain said "You have my permission. Just make sure Parfet and Duelo put a stop to it if anything looks like it could go wrong" the captain smiled at him "I'd hate to lose such a capable pilot in my crew".

Mobius scoffed and smiled himself "Thank you captain".

Leaving the bridge, Mobius returned to his room at the back of the brig and sat on the end of his bed, leaning against his knees he started thinking about the dream again, "A city being bombed..." he muttered as his eyelids slowly bobbed up and down "A school?..."

The pilot's eyes closed and his head leaned down toward his chest as he fell asleep.

_Standing outside of an old colonial style bookstore, Mobius looked through the window at a poster on the inside. The poster was completely blank, but he smiled and went inside._

_Stepping over to the counter, Mobius rang the little desk bell to get the shop owner's attention._

"_Hey!" a cheerful, male voice called to him "Welcome back_" he voice suddenly vanished before returning "It's good to see you again"._

_Mobius nodded as he shook the owners hand "It's always good to see you_" Mobius' voice also vanished as he spoke the man's name "I've brought you a present today"._

"_Oh?" the owner hummed "Did you now?"_

_Mobius was carrying a long cardboard box under his arm "I remember you mentioning a special something a few days ago"._

_The owner took a step back "_You didn't?"_

_Mobius smiled "Oh, but I did"._

_Mobius opened the box and pulled out an antique American Revolutionary sword and handed it to the clerk who gladly took it with a surprised look on his face._

"_It's been restored" Mobius told him "Varnished cedar wood handle, steel hilt and guard. The blade has been sharpened, so please be careful if you start swinging that thing around"._

_The clerk pulled the sword half way out of its sheath and smiled "Thank you_ this is wonderful"._

_Mobius smiled again as the scene shifted; now he was walking down a sidewalk occasionally waving at people he knew. He was humming a very popular song to himself as he stopped at an intersection to wait for the walk light. Mobius could feel his mouth moving as he sang some of the lyrics from the song he was humming, but his voice was completely silent._

_When the walk light showed, Mobius quickly jogged to the other side of the intersection and continued walking, just as an air raid siren went off around the city._

_Immediately looking up at the sky, Mobius' eyes widened as he saw an entire fleet of bombers flying over heard. The sharp whistling sound that accompanied the bombs as they fell from the sky._

_Everywhere people began running and so did Mobius. The bombers were covering the entire city, there wasn't going to be a safe place to avoid the bombers…unless._

_Spotting a manhole cover in the street, Mobius ran over to it and with a yell of effort pulled it open "Down here!" he yelled at everyone, but due to the mass panic only a few people heard him._

_Mobius continued to yell for people to, but the bombers were only seconds from being directly over him. Sliding himself inside the manhole, he closed the cover over him and slid down the ladder, before running alongside the three other people with him to a corner and crouching against the wall, waiting for the bombing to end._

_After a few minutes of hiding, the sounds of bombs going off stopped, and the sound of people screaming was also gone._

Feeling like he was falling, Mobius' eyes shot open and he realized he had fallen to the side and on his bed.

Panting once again with ice cold sweat pouring from his face Mobius ran both of his hands over his face and tried to calm himself before slamming his fist against the wall next to him "Dammit!" he growled "Why can't I remember anything?"

Hearing someone scream down the hall, Mobius jumped up and grabbed his USP. 45 handgun from his nightstand and ran out of his room.

"Halt!" he yelled as he stopped outside Hibiki's room aiming his gun at the boy from Tarak.

Seeing, Dita sleeping on Hibiki's bed and then spotting the various alien decorations around his room, Mobius lowered his gun and growled "I need coffee".

After Mobius left, Hibiki turned back to Dita and yelled "Just what do you think you're doing?!"

Dita jumped off the bed and spun around "Well what do you think?" she asked while she was spinning before she stopped and faced him "Your room is all neat and tidy now don't you think?"

"What's neat about all this?!" Hibiki yelled as Dita turned around and grabbed something off the bed before showing it to him.

Holding a pink pillow with a purple, monkey looking alien on it Dita smiled "For you" just before Hibiki yelled "Get out!" and threw her along with the decoration she put up out of his room.

In the planning room, Meia was typing on a computer, trying to plan new formations centered around the Vandread as it came to be known. Mobius was sitting on the desk looking at the giant screen against the wall that showed what was on the computer so he wouldn't have to look over Meia's shoulder.

"I don't like it" he said after seeing the formation "Look here, see?" he asked her pointing at the left side of the formation "It's uneven, meaning there's a wider area the enemy could focus on and slip through to attack the ship".

"I see your point" Meia admitted before rearranging the formation just as the door opened.

Both pilots looked over to the door to see Dita, standing there clearly lost in her own thoughts.

"Dita?" Meia asked her sub-ordinate.

"Oh hi Meia" Dita replied after realizing they were there.

Dita sat down in front of the desk and told Meia what she did to Hibiki's room. "I just wanted to make him happy, but all I really did was make him mad".

Mobius drank some of his coffee "That boy is a decent pilot, but he needs to work on his social skills".

Meia looked away from Dita and at the projection screen showing the dread formations "Dita, I'm not so good with words and I certainly don't want to encourage your curiosity, but I don't believe its right for you to try and force your way into someone's heart".

"I guess you're right" Dita said bleakly as she got up and left.

Mobius dropped his empty cup in the trash before getting up from the desk "I'm going to check on Parfet's progress I'll see you later".

After Mobius left as well, Meia contacted the captain on the bridge "Excuse me captain, I'd like to take this time to solidify the new dread formations".

"You and BC are cut from the same cloth" the captain said as she looked up to Meia's screen "Why can't you just relax a little?"

"If I may speak freely" Meia replied "The day of our world's annihilation is rapidly approaching. Frankly we just don't have the luxury of resting right now".

Once Meia's screen vanished the captain groaned almost in a disappointed way "Your head is as hard as ever".

Standing outside the planning room, Mobius took a large sip from his coffee just as Hibiki joined him "You ever get that feeling something annoying is about to happen?" he asked Mobius.

Mobius didn't answer; he opened the door and stepped inside with Hibiki behind him.

"You're late" Meia said to them.

"You better be talking to him" Mobius said "I'm not even part of your formations remember".

"Where's Dita?" Jura asked Hibiki who quickly snapped.

"How should I know?! What do I look like anyway her babysitter?"

Mobius walked sat down at the left end of the main table, while Meia stood in front of the center and Gascogne was seated at the right end.

Dita eventually entered and sadly apologized for being late as she took a seat far from Hibiki.

"Alright" Meia said beginning the formation report "Now that we're all hear there's a new formation I want to test out, we'll be using a special formation for when Dita combines her fighter with the".

"Forget it" Dita said "Forget that because I won't be combing with him anymore".

Surprised at what they heard everyone except Mobius looked at the young redhead.

"Ah ha I see where this is going" Jura said "You're getting bored with Mr. Alien aren't you?"

Dita slowly shook her head "No. I've realized that Mr. Alien isn't happy with me, so from now on you can combine with him Jura".

"Dita!" Meia calmly yelled "I will not tolerate the mixing of private matters here, this isn't a game".

Once Meia finished explaining how the formation would be set up, the pilots except for Mobius and Meia went down to the simulators to begin.

"Why did you ask for me to be here exactly?" Mobius asked Meia "I'm not part of the formation so there shouldn't be a reason for me to be here".

"You experience" Meia told him "You have more experience as a pilot than anyone here. What's more is your skill as a pilot can't be denied. Because of that I asked for you to be here so you could observe and make suggestions on how to improve the formation".

Mobius nodded his head to the side "Alright, fair enough".

Watching the progress of the simulation from the computer in front of him Mobius' eyes continued to fly across the screen keeping track of everyone's position even the position of the simulated enemies. Noticing the sudden increase in his rapid eye movement Meia watched the way his eyes continued to flare from one side to the other.

"Dita you're response time is dropping again" Mobius said "Pick it up, if these were real enemies you'd have been shot down three times over by now".

"Right sorry" Dita replied from the radio.

"Well this is no good" Gascogne noted "The girl's mind is somewhere else".

Mobius closed his eyes and got up "I could easily shoot them all down alone at this rate. The formation is solid, but Dita and Hibiki are too distracted. Once they go down the rest of the pilots will panic and then the formation will fall apart".

Mobius opened the door "I'm going to get some coffee".

An hour later, the pilots took a break for lunch and to rest up before continuing. Mobius spent the down time in the brig with the lights off since it was quiet. Sitting on a box and leaning his head against the wall he sighed peacefully before Hibiki came in with Pyoro.

"Oh great" Mobius said sarcastically "You're here".

"He's lonely" Pyoro said before Hibiki raised his hand to hit the NAVI-bot, but stopped when he saw it cowering.

"You shouldn't take you're anger out on someone who has nothing to do with it" Mobius told him "If it's bothering you that much you should go deal with the source of the problem, and by that I mean deal with it somewhere that's not here".

"Just what are you doing here anyway?" Hibiki asked him.

"I'm sitting and trying to enjoy the quiet" Mobius told him "Of course now I'm now talking which is preventing me from doing what I originally planned on doing".

Hibiki glared at Mobius before turning away from him "I just needed to get away from that girl, she's driving me crazy".

"Don't care" Mobius said stoically as Hibiki began ranting.

The pilot of the Vanguard continued on "I mean what the hell was she thinking, just walking into my room and putting all that alien crap up without even asking me".

Mobius dropped his head back against the wall with a solid thud "Again, don't care" he groaned as Hibiki continued ranting "Aaaaaaand you're not listening" Mobius sighed as he slowly began thumping the back of his head against the wall.

Seeing Mobius bang his head against the wall, Hibiki snapped "Hey are you even listening to me?!"

Mobius stopped before looking back at him "No I'm not, and would you like to know why?" he paused to make sure Hibiki was paying attention to him "Because I want to relax and enjoy some quiet. Now I'm only going to say this one last time, I don't…care. It's your problem not mine".

That did it for Hibiki, the pilot glared fire at Mobius "You know I really can't stand people like you and her. You always act like you're so superior to everyone else and she does nothing, but drive me crazy. I hate both of you!"

Mobius slowly tilted his head to the side and looked at the doorway; Hibiki also felt someone watching them and turned around to see Dita standing there with an agonizing expression on her face before she ran off crying.

Getting to his feet Mobius walked by Hibiki without saying a word, leaving the young pilot on his own in the dark room.

Walking into Reg Central, Mobius looked around and was happy to see that Gascogne was the only one there.

"What's up?" the Reg leader asked him.

Mobius grunted with a faint smile "I'm looking for someplace quiet, mind if I hang out here for a while?"

"I don't see why not" Gasco replied before nodding her head behind her "Have a seat, if you're bored I could use a partner" she said holding up a deck of poker cards.

"Alright" Mobius said sitting down across from her just as Hibiki entered. Mobius groaned "Fantastic".

Seeing the former ISAF pilot, Hibiki turned around to leave before Gasco invited him to play as well.

Hibiki formed a cocky smile "Why not I guess I could stay for a little while".

"So where's your partner?" Gasco asked him as he sat down "And not your machine I mean Dita".

"Why is she my partner?!" Hibiki asked as Gasco dealt the cards.

Gasco told him she thought they were a good match as she set down two cards just as Mobius set down three.

After Hibiki set down two cards of his own and drew another two from the deck he smirked "Ok here we go, three of a kind. How's that?" he asked triumphantly before Gasco shot his celebration down with a full house.

"Straight flush" Mobius muttered as he set his hand near the deck and waited for Gasco to reshuffle.

After the next hand was dealt, the three discarded and drew their cards continuing their game for some time.

"Alright try this!" Hibiki growled as he flashed his hand in front of Gasco "Flush! This is a man's game baby so just give up!"

"Four of a kind" Gasco said with a casual smile as Hibiki fell against the table. "Well what about you?" she asked Mobius who just sat there. "Hey you still in or what?" she asked him before realizing he was asleep.

Mobius was resting his head against his fist, with his cards lightly held in his other hand. His head was tilted down so they could just barely see that his eyes were closed.

"Well I guess it's just the two of us now" Gasco smirked after taking the cards from Mobius.

Gasco dealt another hand between them, another hand that Hibiki lost which only added to his frustration. "Come on one more time!" he demanded as Gasco shuffled the cards again.

"Four of a kind!" he yelled.

"A straight flush" Gasco taunted as she waved her cards back and forth for him to see.

Hibiki dropped his cards with a defeated yell before falling to the table with his hands rapidly running through his hair.

As the table shook, Mobius darted up "I'm awake".

"Well nice of you to join us again" Gascogne said to him "You looked pretty peaceful, did you have a good dream?"

Mobius lowered his head into his hand "I guess you could say that".

Gasco smirked as she reached over the table and pulled all of the poker chips to her "Well that was fun, we should do this again sometime".

"Come on one more hand" Hibiki demanded "I swear I'm going to win everything back this time!"

"That's not going to happen" Gascogne told him "This is a game that requires the opponents to read each other's minds. The way you are today you might as well be showing me your hand the entire time. Come back when you've calmed down a bit then we'll play some more".

Hibiki stormed out "Why don't you mind your own business".

After Hibiki left, Gascogne turned back to Mobius "Well how about you? You still up for a game?"

Mobius shrugged "Sure".

Dealing out the new hands Gascogne asked him, "So what was that smile all about?"

Mobius gave Gasco a quick glance before he looked back at his cards "Smile?"

"When you dozed off" Gasco told him "You had a smile on your face, you actually looked happy so you must have been dreaming about something good".

Mobius looked at his cards and his eyes locked in on the queen of hearts "If I had to guess" he began "I think I was dreaming about someone who was important to me in the past". Gascogne watched as he set down four cards and drew four new ones "I can't see who it is though, the face is covered by a mist I can't see through, but I feel happy when I think about it".

The ship's alarm went off and Mobius looked down at his cards "Full house, queens and aces".

Gascogne smirked as she laid down her hand "Full house, jacks and threes".

Mobius ran out of Reg central calling back to Gascogne "Good game" as he left and ran for the hangar.

"Mobius 1 here, I'm taking off". After getting his clearance from the bridge, Mobius launched out into the battle with the rest of the Nirvana's pilots.

After Meia gave out the formation commands to the dreads, Hibiki contacted Dita "Hey you!" he yelled before lowering his voice "Just uh…" he immediately began stuttering "Just don't do anything you wouldn't normally do you got that?"

Dita smiled and nodded "Right".

"Alright then let's go!" Hibiki cheered as the Vanguard and Dita's dread flew off and combined before intercepting the enemy.

Hours after the battle ended, Mobius returned to the infirmary and sat on the bed closest to Duelo.

"Are you ready?" the doctor asked him as Parfet joined them.

Mobius nodded before he laid down "Let's get this over with".

Duelo handed him a small white pill that would make him drowsy "It's stronger than most sleep aids so you'll fall asleep within minutes".

Mobius took the pill without hesitation, dropping it in his mouth and swallowing it. Looking up at the ceiling he sighed "Let's do this" he said calmly.

Duelo and Parfet waited for the medicine to take effect before they began. Once Mobius fell asleep, Parfet set up her machine next to him while Duelo attached a few wires to his forehead and taped them to his skin.

"Alright" Parfet said "Here we go". Turning the machine on the small screen flashed to life showing Mobius' dream.

_A younger Mobius was standing in the center of some kind of public park throwing a football back and forth with another man._

"_Nice throw son" the man said after barely catching the ball._

At that point, Parfet's machine shorted out and screens appeared around the ship showing the pilot's dream.

"_Come on old man" Mobius laughed as he waited for his father to throw the ball back to him._

_Mobius' father leaned his shoulders back and threw the football, but just as Mobius reached out to catch it a young woman with brunette hair and green eyes, she wore a white sailor style school uniform with a short black skirt intercepted the ball from him and began running._

_Mobius cheerfully yelled at her "Oh you are so dead _" his voice suddenly vanished as he began to speak the girl's name._

While the monitors showed Mobius chasing after the girl, Duelo and Parfet noticed the sleeping pilot had a warm, nostalgic smile on his face "It's kind of nice don't you think?" Parfet asked Duelo as they watched the monitor "Even though he has amnesia, deep down he still has these memories. Dreams like that are the best wouldn't you agree doctor?"

Duelo made a quick glance at Mobius' vital signs before he answered "I can't really comment on that, I will admit I do feel a warm sensation while watching it".

On the bridge, the captain and BC alone with the bridge bunnies were watching just as Mobius caught up to the girl and grabbed her by her shoulders and dropped to the ground before turning so she'd land on top of him and unharmed.

_Both Mobius and the girl were laughing while his father and another woman stood next to each other also smiling at them._

_The scene changed and Mobius was now standing in a bookstore talking to a man behind the desk._

"_I brought you a present" Mobius said to the old man before setting a long cardboard box on the counter._

"_Oh _" the clerk said, his voice vanished as he spoke Mobius' name "You didn't?"_

"_Oh, but I did" Mobius told him as he pulled out an antique American Revolution sword and handed it to him. "I remember you saying that you like antiques like that"._

_While the clerk was holding the sword Mobius told him, "It's been restored. Vanished cedar wood handle with steel hilt and guard. It's been sharpened so please be careful if you start waving that thing around"._

_The clerk smiled at him "Thank you _ this is wonderful"._

_Mobius nodded his head to the side "Ah don't thank me, you've always been nice to me and _ so I wanted to give you something in return"._

"_Speaking of _" the clerk said to him "Her birthday is tomorrow right? I saved a copy of that book like you asked"._

"_Thanks; I'm actually here to buy it this time" Mobius told him._

_The clerk continued to smile as he reached under the counter and handed a large book to Mobius along with a card in a plastic gem case to protect it "It's the last in the series" the clerk told him "Very popular, these sold out quickly"._

"_Good thing I got pull here huh?" Mobius joked "Otherwise I never would've gotten my hands on it"._

_After Mobius bought the book and said goodbye to the clerk, the scene changed again to a small room as he gently ran his hand over the book he bought before setting it inside his dresser drawer along with the card. The scene changed again._

_Now Mobius was walking down a sidewalk humming a popular song to himself while he waited at an intersection._

_When the walk light showed, Mobius quickly jogged to the other side of the intersection and continued walking, just as an air raid siren went off around the city._

_Immediately looking up at the sky, Mobius' eyes widened as he saw an entire fleet of bombers flying over heard. The sharp whistling sound that accompanied the bombs as they fell from the sky._

_Everywhere people began running and so did Mobius. The bombers were covering the entire city, there wasn't going to be a safe place to avoid the bombers…unless._

_Spotting a manhole cover in the street, Mobius ran over to it and with a yell of effort pulled it open "Down here!" he yelled at everyone, but due to the mass panic only a few people heard him._

_Mobius continued to yell for people to, but the bombers were only seconds from being directly over him. Sliding himself inside the manhole, he closed the cover over him and slid down the ladder, before running alongside the three other people with him to a corner and crouching against the wall, waiting for the bombing to end._

_After a few minutes of hiding, the sounds of bombs going off stopped, and the sound of people screaming was also gone._

_Slowly walking back to the ladder and climbing back to the surface he looked around at the destruction that was left. The half collapsed buildings and the debris of concrete, steel and wood that littered the streets with a countless number of bodies everywhere._

In the infirmary, Mobius began grunting as his head moved from side to side, his smile was gone and he had a pained expression as he continued to move his head back and forth before he began thrashing in the bed.

"His vitals are getting high, this must be the part of the dream he was wondering about" Duelo noted.

"Is he going to be ok?" Parfet asked after seeing the pilot's vital signs continue to rise.

"He's in no immediate danger, but if they get much higher it could cause complications".

The monitors showed Mobius sprinting down the street, yelling a silent name no one could hear. Chasing after the bombers that left his city, Mobius continued to scream silently until he reached a school at the edge of the city and his eyes widened in absolute horror. The school was hit and the outside wall was destroyed with half the roof caved in and injured survivors standing and looking on in frozen terror at what had happened.

"How horrible" Belvedere gasped when she saw the surviving, injured students and teachers trying to help the others and pulling the dead away from the rubble.

The captain had a cold glare in her eyes "The horrors of war back in those days" she growled as BC gazed at the monitor in shock along with the others at what they were seeing.

_Mobius yelled again as he ran inside the school even though the survivors told him to stop. Running up the first flight of stairs, Mobius climbed over a debris pile and continued to yell until he reached a classroom on the third floor and he pulled the door open and froze again when he saw everyone in the class lying on the floor._

_Again he yelled silently as he spotted the one he was looking for and ran over to her, making sure not to step on anyone. Standing over a body in the far corner, Mobius looked down at the body of the brunette girl who was at the park with him and his father._

_Dropping to his knees Mobius lifted her into his arms and gently shook her crying a name that no one could hear. As tears began forming in his eyes, the mobius strip she used to tie her hair fell to the ground as Mobius shook her harder and harder until he finally gave up and began crying into her shoulder._

"This isn't good!" Duelo yelled as the pilot's vitals reached dangerous levels.

Duelo ran over to the console and brought up a screen showing Mobius' current brain activity as the pilot began violently thrashing in the bed "He's going into shock".

Parfet looked at Mobius and then back to the screen showing him crying into the girl's shoulder. "The pain of this memory must be too much for him" she said sadly as all the screens broadcasting the pilot's dream shut off and the pilot threw his eyes open and he shot up into a sitting position.

"Easy don't move too much" Duelo told him as the pilot grabbed the wires taped to his forehead and ripped them off.

Mobius was breathing heavily with an ice cold sweat pouring down his face as he tried to say something.

"You have to try and calm down" Duelo told him "If you don't relax you could go into shock, just try and calm down".

Mobius tried to slow his breathing before he looked over to the medical console which showed the last image of his dream before he woke. Looking at the image of the dead girl he was holding in his arms the pilot could feel the tears slowly running from his eyes before he laid back and slowly closed his eyes.

The night passed by and the next morning came, most of the crew saw Mobius' dream the previous night and gossip covered the ship. Mobius spent the night in the infirmary and returned to the hangar when he awoke.

Standing at the top of a ladder, Mobius leaned inside his F-22's cockpit; he reached under the seat and grabbed hold of a small steel box before climbing down.

Sitting on a bench in the hangar, Mobius hesitantly held his hand over the box almost afraid to open it.

Untying the string that held the box closed, Mobius slowly opened the box and reached inside. There were three items resting peacefully inside the box, the first was a light blue mobius strip, the second was a tarot card inside a plastic gem case it was the twenty second arcane The World. And the third item was a small picture showing a younger Mobius along side the girl from his dream and a man and woman standing behind them, a family photo.

"Claire" he muttered as a single tear dripped from both of his eyes. Holding the picture against his chest he closed his eyes and quietly cried "Claire…I miss you".

* * *

><p><strong>AN.** And chapter 8 is done.

I've decided its finally time to start revealing Mobius' past so I tried to keep this chapter focused on a recurring dream of his. Turns out his 'dream' is the memory of when the Erusian forces bombed his hometown.

I remembered reading that Mobius 1 was from either the Republic of Amber or the Republic of Delarus which both suffered indiscriminate bombing during the first stages of the Usean Continental War. So with that information I decided to make his dream sequence the memory of when his family was killed during the bombing run.

And now Mobius has remembered a dark moment in his past, on top of that he remembers the name of a girl who used to be important to him, who is this Claire and what was her relation to Mobius?

Find out next time on Vandread Mobius!


	9. Dreams pt 2

Mobius was standing in front of an injured soldier who was sitting against a corner, clenching at the gunshot wound on his side. Mobius coldly stared into the man's eyes both of them breathing heavily.

It had been 2 months since his hometown was bombed by Erusian bombers and now the Erusians had set up a base of operations in what was left of the town, making life miserable for those who survived the bombing.

Just like with every other town they controlled, the Erusians rationed gasoline to the civilians, and pushed them around daily. On one occasion an Erusian soldier gunned down a man who spilled a glass of water on his uniform, Mobius had witnessed this and wasn't going to let it continue any further.

Mobius got a good glimpse at the soldier and the name sewn onto his uniform "Falken" he muttered.

Making sure to remember the soldier's name, Mobius shadowed a group of soldiers to a bar that day and waited for them to occupy themselves with the waitress who served them. With their attention completely occupied, Mobius stole a pair of binoculars from one of the soldiers and quickly and casually slipped out of the bar.

Searching for another patrol, Mobius followed them to their base of operations; formerly the town hall and Mayor's office before he suddenly "disappeared" after the Erusians took over.

Using the binoculars, Mobius used a permanent marker to write down the code on the doors keypad as the group's lieutenant typed it in.

"_Hmm, his heart rate is beginning to rise" Duelo noted after checking the fighter pilot's vitals._

"_Is he in any danger?" Parfet asked._

_Duelo shook his head "Not yet, but judging by the way his muscles just tensed up and the sudden rise in his heart rate, he's about to do something, most likely violent"._

_On the Nirvana's bridge BC and Magno were also watching. Since the last incident, Parfet had fixed her machine so Mobius' dreams were only viewable in the infirmary, but the captain had taken an interest in Mobius' past and ordered it be viewable on the bridge as well._

"_What do you think he's going to do captain?" BC asked after watching Mobius write the code to the keypad on his arm._

"_Isn't it obvious BC?" Magno asked her second in command "The boy is out for revenge"._

Midnight came around and Mobius hid in the shadows of the alley ways, waiting for a group of soldiers to enter the bar.

Mobius didn't have to wait long, he had spent a week watching and making a note on when a patrol entered the bar including how many were in the group, when they left, an educated guess on how drunk they were, their rank and most importantly their equipment.

Luck was on his side, this group only had three soldiers in it, an almost perfect target. Waiting for the soldiers to enter the bar, Mobius reached into his pocket and pulled out a small bottle with a single white pill in it. Opening the bottle, Mobius dropped the pill in his pocket and tossed the bottle into the nearby trashcan.

Taking a deep breath, Mobius entered the bar and took a seat in the farthest corner.

The waitress walked over to him and asked what he would like and Mobius took another deep breath "Two shots of vodka please, straight".

Seeing the way Mobius was watching the group of soldiers the waitress leaned in and whispered to him "I know you hate them _" her voice became silent suddenly "But please don't do anything foolish, your mother wouldn't want you to get hurt".

Mobius looked at the waitress through the corner of his eyes "My mother's dead along with the rest of my family" he told her quietly "Don't worry Lisa, I'm not going to do anything, I just can't stand being in the same building as them".

The waitress smiled at him sadly before she left to get him his drink. After Lisa left, Mobius continued to watch the soldiers laughing and wrapping their arms over each others shoulders as they drunkenly sang that Mobius knew well.

Hearing them sing this song made Mobius even angrier, the song they were singing was a favorite of his closest friend, another casualty in the bombing of his hometown.

After a few minutes, Lisa brought Mobius his two shots and he immediately payed her before downing both of them and getting to his feet "Thank you Lisa" he gasped as the vodka began burning his throat.

Walking over to the table where the three soldiers were, Mobius pretended to trip and knocked a glass of beer off their table.

"What the hell?!" one of the soldiers yelled before grabbing Mobius by his shirt collar and lifting him up from the floor "You just spilled my drink pal!"

Mobius acted drunk and slurred his words a bit and slightly closed his eyes to make him appear dizzy and clumsy, the recent shots of vodka added a nice touch, giving his breath a strong scent of alcohol "Ssshorry" he slurred "Hey, I'll make it uppp to youu" he continued as the soldier tightened his grip around his shirt collar "How about I go and buy youuu two more drinksh to make up forr it. Howsh that shound?"

The soldier glared at Mobius before letting him go "Alright, but you'd better not spill either of them when you're bringing them back to me!" he yelled "If I see a single drop missing from either mug I'll beat you to death with the bar stool, got it?!"

Mobius gave him a drunken thumbs up before stumbling over to the bar counter and ordering two new mugs of beer for his 'new friend'.

_Duelo and Parfet along with BC and captain Magno watched as Mobius quickly dove his hand into his pocket and retrieved the pill he had earlier._

"_What do you suppose that is?" Parfet asked Duelo._

"_Can't say" Duelo replied "Medicine has evolved quite a bit from back then, although I can guess as to its purpose. Mixing medication of any kind with alcohol is a bad idea; he could be attempting to poison the man"._

Crushing the pill between his thumb and the bar counter, Mobius slid the powdered pill into his hand and dumped it into one of the mugs the bartender handed him before he clumsily made his way back to the soldiers.

"Here you go, two beersh on me!" he cheered "Enjoy!"

Mobius began to stumble away, but one of the soldiers stopped him "Hey hold on!"

Mobius froze for a second "Did they see me?" he thought before turning around.

"You know what you're not so bad" the sergeant of the group said, "Sit down and join us, the private apologizes for the way he acted and he just sometimes goes off like that".

"I really sshouldn't" Mobius slurred "But what'sh one more drink?"

Sitting down with the soldiers, Mobius drank with them for another hour which surprised many of the patrons who knew him, especially the waitress and bartender who were close friends of his mother.

"Well its time for us to turn in boys!" the sergeant said as he got up "You're not so bad boy" the sergeant said to Mobius "How about next time I buy you a drink whaddya say?"

"Sshoundsh good" Mobius smiled before he stumbled out of the bar with the soldiers.

"Well see you around kid" the sergeant said to him before he and the two privates drunkenly walked down the darkened street.

After turning the first corner, Mobius let out an angry sigh before looking around the corner to see the soldiers turn onto the main street.

Bolting across the street and into the alleyway, Mobius followed after them, making sure to stay hidden as much as possible.

A few minutes after they left the bar, the private Mobius brought the drinks to started moaning "I think I drank a bit too much guys" he said before covering his mouth and hunching over, vomiting in the street.

The other two soldiers jumped back and almost lost their footing while laughing at him.

"I need to relieve myself real quick, hold up" the soldier gasped after he stopped throwing up.

The soldier stumbled toward the closest alley to him and faced a wall as he unzipped his pants.

Mobius was crouched in the shadows directly behind him, quickly looking to see if the other two soldiers were watching, Mobius was pleased to see that they were busying talking to each other and he made his move.

Quickly stepping out from the shadows that concealed him, Mobius kicked the guard in the back of his knee immediately placing his hands around his chin and the back of his head before snapping his neck in a single, silent motion.

Allowing the body to drop against the nearby trashcans, Mobius took the dead soldiers knife as the two in the street looked down into the alley "Hey Adam you alright?" one of them called.

"He probably passed out again, go check" the sergeant ordered.

The second private stumbled into the alley laughing and mocking his friend as he reached him "Hey Adam get up you drunk!" he laughed as he kicked him as hard as he could manage in his current state.

Noticing that Adam didn't budge, the soldier got closer and leaned over grabbing his friend by the shoulder "Adam, wake up man!"

"How far gone is he?" the sergeant called before he turned away to laugh, giving Mobius his window.

Mobius leaped out of the shadows again and grabbed the soldier from behind, covering his mouth as he slit his throat with the knife he took. Dropping the soldier's body forward, Mobius ducked back into the dark corner as the sergeant entered the alley muttering something about the two drunks he was with.

Once the sergeant was close enough, Mobius moved to attack, but kicked the edge of a trash bag alerting the soldier to his presence. "Hold it!" the sergeant yelled pulling his gun and facing Mobius who was still holding the combat knife he took.

"You?" the sergeant muttered before he ordered Mobius to drop the knife.

Mobius slowly moved his arm out and began kneeling over to set the knife down until he noticed that the sergeant had made a big mistake, in his drunken haste he didn't turn his pistol's safety off.

Mobius smirked at him before he lunged forward and knocked his gun hand away before driving the knife into his sternum and ducking behind him. Grabbing the sergeant by the back of his head and left shoulder, Mobius reared him back before slamming his head against the brick wall as hard as he could.

Hearing an unmistakable splat sound, Mobius backed away from the dead sergeant and dropped down into a sitting position in the shadows.

Watching Mobius slam the soldier's face into the wall, BC and the captain closed their eyes and looked away when they heard the gruesome sound of the impact.

"_This is troublesome" BC said before opening her eyes again, but not looking at the screen "It's a good thing that only the two of us along with Duelo and Parfet are watching this. If the rest of the crew were to see this, they'd probably panic at having someone who killed three people in cold blood on the ship"._

"_Revenge can lead someone to do horrible things BC" Magno told her "Let us just hope that he has put all that behind him now"._

Mobius had taken the sergeant's gun along with his spare clip and the same knife he took from the private before making his way to the town hall.

Typing the code into the keypad, Mobius waited for the door to open before crouching in and immediately jumping into the biggest cluster of shadows he could see.

Mobius silently crept through the base avoiding anyone not asleep and quickly disposing of anyone when he had the chance. Reaching the room they used for communication, Mobius tapped the back of his hand against the door and backed away.

"What is it?" someone asked from the other side as they opened the door.

Once the door was open, Mobius darted inside and stabbed his knife into the soldier's neck as he aimed his gun around the room. Seeing that he was the only one in their, Mobius dropped the dead soldier to the ground and closed the door, locking it before he sat down at the communications console.

Brining up the main controls screen, Mobius shut down the radar system the Erusians installed as well as the air raid sirens before sending a message to ISAF informing them that the town was vulnerable.

Waiting the rest of the night out in the communications room, Mobius sat in the corner between the console and filing cabinets with his knees curled up to his chest and his knife and gun trained on the door.

Mobius' eye continued to grow heavier and heavier, but he refused to allow himself to fall asleep, not now. Hearing a knock at the door he tightened his grip on pistol and knife both.

"Hey Randal!" a voice yelled from the other side of the door "Open the door! Did you fall asleep again?"

"Someone go and get the commander!" the soldier outside the door ordered before he continued to knock louder and louder "Randal! Wake up dammit!"

The knocking stopped when a rapid popping sound like fireworks went off in the far distance, "That's gun fire!" the soldier yelled "Someone get me a status report!" he banged on the door again "Randal you in there?!"

"ISAF ground forces!" a panicked voice yelled in the hallway "ISAF ground forces are attacking!"

"What?" the first soldier yelled "How did they get in without being detected?"

"All of our equipment across the town is offline!" the second soldier yelled "The north patrol sent a runner once they saw the enemy and realized communications were down".

"Dammit!" the first soldier yelled before ordering the other to join the defense before he kicked the door open and saw Randal on the ground.

"What the hell?" he yelled just as Mobius sprang out from the corner and shot him.

"What was that?!" someone yelled from down the hall "Gunshot from inside communications!"

Mobius spun around and shot out the windows before he cursed himself "This is a really bad idea" he growled before jumping out the window. The second before he hit the ground, he tucked his arms and legs in and rolled to the side once he hit to cushion as much damage as possible before running away.

"_Hmm. Quite resourceful" Duelo noted after seeing Mobius escape._

Mobius continued to run away from Town hall, but spotted two soldiers rushing toward him with ACR assault rifles.

Ducking into a Hotel next to him, Mobius ran up the stair case and hid behind a wall as the two soldiers kicked the door down.

"Shoot him on sight!" one of them yelled as they split up to look for him.

Keeping his mouth tightly closed, Mobius calmly breathed through his nose as one of them cautiously walked up the staircase.

Waiting for the soldier to get closer, Mobius ducked out of the corner and fired two rounds into his chest before sprinting away to the end of the hall just as the second soldier started chasing him.

Hiding inside the room at the end of the hall, Mobius heard the soldier's rapid footsteps getting closer.

"Just give up and it'll be quick!" the soldier yelled at him.

Mobius didn't respond he turned his head at the lamp that sat on the nearby nightstand and threw his knife at it knocking it over.

Hearing the lamp crash to the floor, the soldier outside the room fired through the door in that direction, the bullets missing Mobius by mere inches as they splintered through the wooden door.

Waiting for the soldier to stop shooting Mobius fired his pistol through the door twice. Hearing the soldier yell as he was shot, Mobius threw the door open, hitting the soldier in the face and knocking him back, allowing him to escape.

As he ran by the soldier, Mobius saw the name on his uniform "Falken".

Sliding to a stop, Mobius pulled his pistol and aimed it at the soldier as he fell into the corner, clenching at the gunshot in his side.

Both of them were breathing heavily as Mobius coldly stared in his eyes with his gun pointed right at his head.

"His name" Mobius began "Was Terry Ferns. And he was a good man".

The soldier looked at Mobius confused before concluding that he must've meant the man he shot a few days ago. The soldier smiled and chuckled "You really think I give a damn what his name was? I was bored that's all".

The second the soldier finished speaking Mobius pulled the trigger shooting him in the forehead.

Mobius was shaking as he turned away to leave the hotel, most of the gunfire had stopped, but he could still hear yelling outside.

Stepping outside the hotel, Mobius was immediately met by a group of ISAF soldier who had their guns aimed at him.

Mobius stared at each of them coldly before he raised his gun up and released the clip from it and dropped it to the ground.

The soldiers treated him as a possible hostile and arrested him while they waited for the rest of the Erusian soldiers to surrender.

At dusk, someone finally came to question Mobius "So why don't you tell me who you are and what you were doing with that 45".

Mobius was looking at his hands as they rested on the table in what used to be the Mayor's office.

"Nothing to say huh?" the soldier asked him.

Mobius looked up at him and zeroed in on the captain's insignia he wore on his shoulder, but didn't say anything.

"We found two dead Erusians in the hotel you came out of, your gun was recently fired and both Erusians were recent kills. You're doing?"

Mobius nodded "Yeah".

The captain continued "We also found three other bodies in one of the alley ways, from what we can tell they were killed late last night, yours as well?"

Mobius nodded again.

The captain stood up and looked down at Mobius who continued to stare at the captain with a cold gaze. "Why don't you tell me why you killed them? I can understand that you must hate them after what they did, but to kill each of them so brutally".

"My family" Mobius told him before looking back down at his hands "My mother, my father and my little sister. They were killed in the bombing two months ago".

"I see" the captain replied "So it was revenge then?"

Mobius could feel a single tear forming in his eye "It was Claire's birthday, she had just turned 15. I was going to pick her up from school that day when the bombers came" Mobius balled his hands into tight fist "I was holding her in my arms, she was dead by the time I found her…I should've gone to pick her up earlier, if I did she'd still…"

Mobius stopped speaking, he was exhausted and using what little strength he had left to keep himself from crying.

The captain walked around the table and placed his hand on his shoulder "I can't imagine how bad horrible that was for you son. I won't hold you anymore, I'll tell my men to give you a bed so you can rest".

"I want to fight" Mobius said as the captain stepped away from him "I want to fight for ISAF, I want Erusea to pay for what they've done, for what they've taken away from me".

The captain looked into Mobius' eyes again and saw the same cold stare he had given him when he first entered, but he also saw a burning hatred and determination, he could tell that Mobius was serious.

"I'll see what I can do" he told him "Do you have any idea what you want to do if you join?"

Mobius promptly stood up "I'm going to be a fighter pilot; my life was taken from me by bombers. I'm going to take to the skies and return the favor".

"Becoming a fighter pilot isn't easy" the captain told him with a faint smile "But something tells me you could make it. I'll establish some communications with command and let them know we got a recruit for the Air Force".

Mobius straightened himself and saluted the captain who gave a light chuckle in response before telling Mobius to follow him as he showed him where he could rest.

Mobius' dream ended and the pilot slowly opened his eyes before calmly sitting up.

"Good morning" Parfet said to him as she turned her machine off.

"Coffee" Mobius said as he got out of the bed.

"Here's some" Parfet said handing him a warm cup of coffee "I figured you'd want some when you woke up so I went to the cafeteria and grabbed some for you a few minutes ago".

"Thanks" Mobius said after taking the coffee and drinking it.

"You're welcome" Parfet said before she turned to Duelo "I should get back to Engineering, I've got a lot of work to do".

Duelo nodded "Of course, thank you for the assistance".

Parfet smiled as she left, leaving the two men alone.

"Are you ready?" Duelo asked Mobius.

Mobius nodded and Duelo played the recording of the pilot's dream on the console.

As Mobius watched the first few moments of the dream he muttered quietly to himself "Claire…"

* * *

><p><strong>AN.** Well there's chapter 9.

I decided it was time once again to reveal more of Mobius 1's past so I decided to make this a...intermission chapter of sorts. To give more perspective as to what happened before Mobius joined ISAF.

Of course none of it is true because like all Ace Combat games the player pilot's past is never revealed, but I think I've got a good thing going here.

Anyway hope you all enjoyed and the next chapter won't be a long wait, till then!


	10. Speaking from the Heart

"So that's a mission colony?" BC asked staring at the screen above the bridge "I've never seen one".

The screen showed a small space station surrounded by asteroids tied to some kind of cables that kept them from drifting.

The captain explained the station's origin "They prospered during the Terraforming days as a relay base, buy now it's useless. It's almost lonely just looking at it".

Mobius was standing next to BC, looking at the screen "It looks like an ordinary futuristic space station to me".

Inside the station, Meia led a recon party to see what they could salvage; her team consisted of herself, Barnette, Dita, Hibiki, Jura and Pyoro.

They were all in central room of the station, Dita stared in awe at the ceiling so far above them "It's amazing that the captain remembered about this old station!"

"It's officially called a mission" Pyoro told her.

"Enough chatter already" Meia told them "We've got a lot of work to get done here".

"You call this work?" Pyoro asked the dread leader "All you're doing is looting the place".

"Consider it gathering abandoned assets then" Meia said to the NAVI bot.

"You say tomato, I say looting" Mobius said to her from a radio on the bridge.

"Easy for you to judge" Meia smirked "Since you're the one that stayed of the ship".

Mobius smiled "Well someone has to defend us while you're done there gathering the abandoned assets. Oh and by the way, you guys aren't alone down there".

"What do you mean?" Meia asked him looking down at her communicator.

Mobius explained "I mean there's someone else down there with you. Don't know who or how many, but they were here before we were and they're still here".

Just then, Hibiki sensed something watching them and looked up at the rafters just in time to see something flash away in the shadows.

Hibiki chased after it with Pyoro following him; "I'm telling you I saw something watching us" he told the NAVI bot.

"Are you sure you're not just being paranoid?" Pyoro asked him before something big and furry dropped down in front of them.

The strange creature had red fur and was carrying what looked like a small machine.

"W…What the heck is this thing?" Hibiki stammered.

The creature grinned at them before it lunged forward. Hibiki ducked, but the creature's target was Pyoro. Grabbing the white NAVI bot the strange creature began licking him like a lollipop as he screamed for help.

"Knock it off Utan" a stern voice ordered.

Hibiki turned around to see who was there and saw a tall man dressed in some kind of tribal clothing, with ceremonial paint on his face, a red eye patch covering his right eye and a small green bead strapped to his forehead by a thin lace.

"You're a man!" Hibiki exclaimed "You must've come here to save us!" the Vanguard pilot ran over to the stranger, but he pulled a gun and pointed it right between the young teen's eyes.

Hibiki froze when he saw the gun just an inch from being pressed against his skin, but the man sensed something behind him and ducked around Hibiki before wrenching his arm behind his back and aiming his gun at Meia's chest as she calmly stepped over to them and aimed her laser ring at his forehead.

"You're a woman huh?" the man asked.

"So what if I am?" Meia asked him as he stood up and released Hibiki who jumped to Meia's side.

"It's my policy never to kill women" the man explained before hearing something behind him. He smiled and twirled his pistol around his finger before throwing it to his other hand and letting it hang harmlessly from his finger "I get it, you've got me outnumbered".

Jura was standing behind him with the tip of her rapier pointed at his neck "What's he doing here?" she asked "He's a man".

Barnette quickly snatched the man's gun away from him while keeping her own gun aimed at him.

"So I'm guessing you're some kind of gang?" the man asked them.

Meia corrected him, "We prefer to be called pirates".

The man looked at Hibiki and asked, "Even that little lady over there?"

"Hey I'm a guy jackass!" Hibiki yelled.

The man's face faulted for a second before he began laughing loudly.

"What's so funny?" Hibiki yelled.

The man quickly calmed down and apologized, "I'm sorry buddy. I didn't mean to laugh, but you got to admit, it's easy to mistake you for a girl because, you're such a cute little thing".

Hibiki growled before Dita scream from behind them, the strange furry creature the man had called Utan had grabbed hold of Dita's leg and started licking it.

The man pointed at Dita and his friend and Meia nodded her head, allowing him to break them up while she kept an eye on him.

"Alright Utan that'll be enough out of you!" the man said as he picked the creature up by the collar of its clothes. The creature had an apologetic smile has the man continued "You're partner's in trouble over here in case you haven't noticed and you're doing nothing, but being useless".

The man grabbed Pyoro from his partner and swiftly turned around before launching the unconscious NAVI bot at Meia's head knocking her down.

"Damn you" Barnette growled before Utan jumped on her head and then up into the rafters.

Jura charged the man and swung her rapier, but he ducked under it and rolled back before running down the hall and away from them just as the entire station began shaking.

Outside the station, the many asteroids that were anchored to it began shooting out several plate shaped objects that ejected defense drones.

"All hands prepare for battle!" BC ordered as Mobius ran out of the bridge.

Entering the hangar, Mobius sprinted for his fighter and climbed into it "Mobius 1 launching!" he announced as his canopy closed.

"Roger Mobius 1" Belvedere confirmed from the bridge "Good luck out there".

Taking off from the Nirvana and entering the battle, Mobius looked at his radar to see the dreads and Vanguard leaving the mission station "Engaging closest enemy group".

The Nirvana's shields went up and all hell broke lose.

"Mobius 1 has shot down an enemy" Belvedere announced from the bridge.

"Salvage party taking off from the mission station" Aramone continued.

Hibiki activated the Vanguard's battle axe and made a large horizontal swing, slicing through two enemies before a third one charged into him, making him drop his weapon.

"Dammit" Hibiki growled as the drone tried pushing him away from his allies.

"So?" Jura asked seductively as her dread hovered next to his Vanguard.

"So what?" Hibiki yelled.

"Are you ready for me?" the blonde pilot asked him.

Hibiki blushed and yelled, "Are you still on about that?!"

Jura realized her dread's warning alarm was going off before an enemy drone scored a hit on her before it was destroyed and the F-22 roared past her.

Running her hand over her ear to straighten her hair Jura sighed, "Thanks Mobius".

"Don't get distracted" Mobius told her "Eyes front and concentrate".

Seeing a bright light next to her, Jura snapped her head back to the side to see Vandread Dita hovering next to her dread.

"I don't believe this!" Jura yelled "I won't forgive you for that Dita!"

Dita pulled her eyelid down and stuck her tongue out at Jura "Too bad, I guess you won't be combining today!"

"You're both insane if you ask me" Hibiki muttered.

Dita cheered, "Alright let's go!"

The Vandread's cannons moved into place over the mech's shoulders and charged before firing and completely vaporizing the mission station in a single blast.

With their connection to the mission station gone, the remaining drones shut down and ceased to be a threat.

"The battle's over, all pilots returning to base" Ezra smiled "Once again no damage to Mobius 1".

Magno looked over to Ezra "Tell Mobius I'd like to see him".

"Roger" Ezra replied.

"All that money we could've made" the captain groaned as she looked at the debris field of the former mission station "What a waste".

"That's my line!" the stranger from the station said as his screen appeared on the bridge "My engine was damage because I wanted to be nice and help you ladies out. So what are you going to do about it?"

"Who do you think you're talking to?" Magno asked him "We're pirates and we never ask for help".

"Is that so?" the man asked her before showing her Pyoro "Then I guess you don't mind if I keep this little guy then huh?"

"Oh no Pyoro!" Dita gasped.

"I guess we have no choice" the captain resigned "Come on board then".

"Right oh!" the man agreed with a thumbs up "And maybe while we're at it we can do a little business!"

After the screen vanished, BC turned to the captain "Is this wise captain?"

"Pyoro is one of our crew BC" the captain replied "Besides, if he tries anything funny, we'll simply just relieve him of his worldly possessions".

In an auxiliary docking bay, the strange tribal man entered the ship along with Utan and Pyoro. He was immediately greeted by a platoon of guards aiming glowing rings at him.

Seeing all the women, the man smiled and rubbed his hands together "My, this ship sure has a lot of lovely young ladies on it". He walked toward them and introduced himself "The name's Rabat, nice to meet you all!"

He began handing each of them a business card before seeing Jura standing against the wall "Oh, you're that nice young lady with the saber aren't you? Here you go" he said handing Jura a card as well "A memento".

Jura awkwardly turned away "I don't want one" she said, clearly uncomfortable with how casual this man was.

On the bridge, Mobius and the captain were watching the man, Rabat from a camera next to her terminal.

"There's something about this guy that I don't like" Mobius said as Meia showed up on the camera and began escorting Rabat to the bridge.

The captain narrowed her eyes "He definitely has his own agenda, but it's unclear at this point what it is".

Mobius agreed, "Well it goes without saying that we should keep a constant eye on him".

Waiting for Meia to arrive at the bridge with Rabat, Mobius gave him a quick glance before Meia lead him to the captain.

"A ship with only three men on it and the rest are women huh?" Rabat asked the captain "So what kind of pirates are you?"

"Those men are prisoners of war" Magno told him "We're from Mejere and with the exception of Mobius here" the captain held her hand out to Mobius while he leaned against the wall next to her terminal "Those men come from Tarak".

Rabat listened to the captain while curiously and almost childishly looked around the bridge, pressing several buttons until he saw a screen showing Bart in the helmsman portal.

"Don't catch a cold in there buddy" he chuckled much to Bart's dismay.

"So if those other guys are from Tarak, where's he from?" Rabat asked looking over to Mobius.

Before the captain could answer, Mobius cut her off "I'm from a small planet called, it's classified. Catch my drift?"

Rabat smirked slightly at Mobius' distant response "Not one for sharing about yourself huh? That's alright I understand".

"So what is it you want from us?" Magno asked him.

"Oh nothing" Rabat told her "My engine was damaged, so I'd like to stay here for a while until I can get it fixed" Rabat paused "And maybe do a little business while I here?"

"That's fine with me" Magno agreed coldly.

Rabat thanked Magno before leaving the bridge. "Should I keep an eye on him?" Mobius asked.

"Later" the captain told him "I asked you to come to the bridge because I'd like to discuss the dreams you've been having, more particularly the one from a few nights ago".

Mobius looked at the three bridge bunnies as well as Meia from the corner of his eye before looking back at the captain "Very well, but not here".

The captain nodded before telling him, BC and Meia to meet her in the conference room. Her chair then slid back and up a ramp that led to the conference room.

Immediately making his way to the conference room along with Meia and BC, Mobius prepared himself for what he knew was going to be a difficult conversation.

Entering the conference room, Mobius saw the captain watching Rabat through another camera, he had a briefcase sitting on a table in front of him and it was filled with all kinds of jewelry.

"So he's a con man then" Mobius said after seeing the briefcase.

The captain nodded "It's starting to look that way" Magno looked up to Mobius and motioned for him to sit across from her.

BC and Meia took their seats on both sides of the table sitting directly across from each other.

"Now then" Magno began "The first dream you had, the one where a city was bombed".

Mobius took a quick, very deep breath before he began explaining "I was born in a small town called Nasuno in the Republic of Delarus a small, but peaceful country. The specific time that you saw in my dream was…" Mobius paused for a brief second "Is one of the most important parts of my past. At the time I was preparing for Claire's 16th birthday. Claire, the girl you saw in my dream was my little sister".

Mobius paused again to gather himself, "The bookstore I visited in my dream was one of Claire's favorite places to go. She loved to read, dance, swim…but out of all her hobbies her favorite thing to do was pester me" Mobius had a nostalgic smile on his face, he tried to hide it, but the three women around him could see the pain and sadness behind his eyes.

"Whenever I would go out for a morning or nighttime run, she'd want to join me even though she could never keep up which would make me slow down…" Mobius paused yet again and he blinked as he felt his throat trying to tighten.

Magno told him, "Take your time, I know this must be hard for you".

Mobius exhaled slowly "She wasn't just my sister, she was my best friend. As much as I complained about her always wanting to follow me around, I never felt happier than when we were together. I visited that bookstore every day for an entire month, slowly making payments on a book that was going to be released the week of Claire's birthday. The book was the last of a highly praised series called Revelations of the 22".

"The series focused on a character as he moved through his life facing hardship after hardship as well as the joys in life. Each book was numbered and titled in accord with the twenty two major arcana found in a Tarot card deck. The series started with book 0 The Fool and was going to end with 21 The World. The final book was released the week of Claire's birthday and she was really looking forward to it. The owner of the shop was always good to us, he'd always talk to us about history and antiques, he was real fascinated with that sort of stuff".

"Since he was always so nice to us I bought him an antique civil war saber, I gave it to him the same day I picked up Claire's book. We talked for a bit then I returned home to hide it. Her birthday was the next day…"

"I went to pick her up from school that day that's when…"

"The attack came?" BC asked him.

Mobius nodded, "Anrui was a costal town about 20 miles inland, but somehow the bombers managed to slip in undetected. The air raid sirens didn't start going off until it was too late. I looked up just as the bombs started falling, of course my first thought was to run and find cover. I ran for a few blocks until I realized I wasn't going to outrun them and hiding in a building was assured suicide".

"So you decided to hide underground?" Magno asked him.

Mobius nodded again "I've always been very perceptive and calm so when I saw that manhole cover in the street I knew it was my only shot. I pulled it open and got the attention of as many people as I could. The bombers just continued to get closer so I closed the cover and ran deeper into the sewer with the others before we took cover".

As Mobius continued the story he could hear the people from the streets that day screaming in panic and terror as the engines of the bombers roared overhead.

"We waited for what seemed like an entire year until everything, but the ringing in our easy stopped. Slowly we returned topside to see what was left of our home. I don't know how long I was wondering in the street looking at the destruction and the dead until I remembered what I was doing. I looked out at the horizon and noticed the bombers had headed in the same direction as Claire's high school. I immediately took off in a full sprint, running for Claire's school calling her name the entire time".

"When I got there, half the school was collapsed. From what I could see a bomb landed away from the school so the shockwave caused the damage. I ran inside, ignoring everyone telling me not to go inside. Claire's class was on the third floor, the same side of the school where the wall collapsed. When I got inside her classroom and saw Claire lying next to the teacher's desk. I held her in my arms yelling and yelling for her to wake up, but I knew she was dead. A part of the ceiling collapsed and hit her on the head".

"And?" the captain asked him "When did the enemy take over your town?"

"The Usean Continental War had begun right after the attack on my country as well as the Republic of Amber. Erusea didn't waste time marching their soldiers into our countries afterwards. It had been a couple of months since they took over Anrui; day after day I watched them. Wanting nothing more than to get back at them for everything they did. One day I watched an Erusian soldier bump into a guy coming out of a restaurant and he spilled his water on the soldier's uniform. The soldier decided to just shoot him in broad daylight, no one did anything about it and they didn't go to his aid or even try to stop him from bleeding to death they just walked away. That was it for me, I couldn't take it anymore"

"So you went out for revenge?" Magno asked him.

Mobius' expression changed as he nodded "I wanted them to suffer".

Magno remembered how Mobius' dream went from that point, how he tricked a small group of soldiers and drugged one of them before slowly and methodically picking them off. Sneaking into the enemy's HQ and then shutting down their defense network before alerting ISAF and allowing them to liberate the city. He was cold and precise in the execution of his revenge.

"And after your town was liberated?" Magno asked, knowing how the story went from there.

"I joined ISAF" Mobius told her "I wanted to be a fighter pilot; everything important to me was taken by airborne enemies so I was going to take the skies from them. I joined ISAF and immediately began my training as a fighter pilot. In the G force simulators I was on the verge of passing out multiple times, but I refused to allow myself to give up. I didn't sleep, eat I didn't even rest until I was able to complete an entire simulation run without taking any damage".

"I didn't talk to anyone, I just kept to myself the entire time, only the commanding officers knew my real name so everyone else just started calling me Mobius because of the mobius strip I always carried with me. Claire used it as her hair band and after she died I used it as a reminder, a reminder of what I was working toward a catalyst for my determination".

"Is that how you became known as Mobius 1?" BC asked.

"Yeah" Mobius replied "I was scheduled for my first sortie with other members of the 118th Tactical Fighter Wing, we were sent on an air to surface mission to destroy Erusean supply ships, but our Intel was off and because of that I was the only one who survived the mission. The flight lead had finished the mission with me, but he had to eject on the way back, they never recovered his body".

"I returned to base and after the official mission report came in everyone started calling me Mobius 1, not just because I was the only survivor, but because I didn't sustain any damage during the mission".

"Captain!" Ezra's voice cried before a screen appeared in the center of the table showing the bridge operator.

The captain calmly looked to Ezra, "What is it Ezra?"

"Hibiki and Rabat are fighting in the hangar, what should we do?"

Mobius got to his feet "I'll deal with it".

Mobius entered the hangar just as Rabat knocked Hibiki to the floor and stepped on his head, Dita tried to stop him, but Rabat kicked her away before picking Hibiki up and throwing him into a wall.

Rabat turned his eyes away from Hibiki as he continued to mock the young pilot while also telling him that a man speaks with words from his heart and not the words he heard from others.

Hibiki stood up, using the wall as a brace so he could stand while Rabat began walking toward him. Mobius didn't know if Rabat was intending to kill Hibiki or not, but either way he wasn't going to stand back and watch.

Mobius walked over to Hibiki and the second he stepped between them he pulled out his M9 Beretta and shot Rabat in his right shoulder.

Rabat hunched to the side and clenched at his shoulder before looking at Mobius who still had his gun pointed at him.

With a cold glare Mobius said to him, "Give me an excuse".

"That's enough!" Meia's voice demanded from the doorway.

The dread leader walked over to them with her laser ring trained on Rabat, in the doorway, Duelo, Bart, Jura and even Barnette along with several other crew members were gathered, all of them glaring at Rabat.

"Alright" Rabat said "I know when I'm not wanted, I'll take my leave now".

Rabat left and returned to his ship where his partner Utan was waiting. Utan quickly bandaged Rabat's shoulder before they left the Nirvana.

"Rabat's ship is departing captain" Aramone announced.

Magno smirked "Parfet fire up the engines, it's time we do what pirates are meant to do".

The Nirvana's engines flashed to life and the ship flew after Rabat's.

"I'm not going to let you get away" the captain said under her breath "I'm going to strip you of everything you've got".

Inside his ship, Rabat was leaning back in his seat while Utan piloted. "That Peksis Pragma, that big machine and that Mobius guy".

Utan began grunting as he pointed at their radar, showing the Nirvana quickly closing in on them.

"They sure are persistent" Rabat said before he reached into his pocket and pulled out a small remote.

The Peksis suddenly shut down, sending the Nirvana's engines offline and bringing the ship to a complete stop.

"Engineering what the heck are you guys doing?" Bart yelled "He's going to get away!"

"I don't know" Parfet replied "All of our systems just went down, I think the device I got was faulty, somebody file a complaint!"

"He got us this time" Magno growled as she watched Rabat's ship escape.

That night, Hibiki sat alone in front of the stream in the garden, staring at his reflection in the water.

"It doesn't matter what he said" Meia said from the edge of the observation platform, she was leaning her back against the rail "Everything he said was non sense, he was nothing more than a con artist".

Hibiki clenched his fists "I know that, but he was still right about one thing. I hate to admit it, but I don't have any words to call my own only what I've heard from others" the young pilot looked up at the stars "When I do get up on my own stage, I wonder what king of lines would come out of me. Heh, I'm looking forward to that day, but at the same time I'm a little bit scared. I'm kinda worried that my play would be a comedy".

"It doesn't matter how silly the lines are" Meia told him "If they come from the heart and spirit without any lies nobody would laugh at you. Or at the very least I wouldn't".

Meia left, leaving Hibiki to his thoughts.

"Am I really a man?" Hibiki asked himself "Or do I just think I am? Since I ended up here I've been trying to prove to everyone…no I've been trying to prove it to myself. Hibiki the man what a joke, I'm nothing at least not compared to him. He's returned from every battle without taking any damage, and then he just steps between us and shoots him…He just shot him, didn't say anything to him or try to fight him".

Hibiki looked back up at the stars again "What is it about him? He annoys the crap out of me, but I kind of feel like I want to be like him, someone strong enough to protect everything".

In the cafeteria, Mobius was sitting at the same corner table he was always at. He was resting his head against his fist and on the table in front of him was a card in a plastic gem case. He was slowly tapping his finger against it, "You need something Meia?"

"How do you do that?" Meia asked him before walking over to the former ISAF pilot and sitting across from him.

Mobius kept tapping his finger on the card in front of him, "I've had a lot of people observe me over the years. Eventually you develop a sixth sense for when someone's eyes are watching you".

Meia looked at the card on the table "The World?" she asked.

"Each of the books came with a corresponding arcana" Mobius told her "Our house was also destroyed during the bombing, only three things survived, a picture of me and Claire with our parents and the book with this card".

Meia could see a single tear in Mobius' right eye as his finger stopped on the center of the card.

"I went to her grave every day and read this book next to her tombstone, making sure to tell her key points that were happening in the story. I think she would've been happy with the ending. The hero of the story had been blessed by a dying angel and she used her new power to forever separate Hell from Earth, of course she died at the end, but her sacrifice kept the world safe from evil for the rest of time".

"A year before she died, just after the Judgement book was released, I took Claire to a fair outside of town. We had a lot of fun that day, before we left she wanted to stop at the fortune teller to have both of our fortunes told. She used Tarot cards to divine our fortunes, the fortune teller said there were great things in my future, that I'd be a hero to countless people. That's when she flipped over The World".

Meia didn't say anything; she looked down at the Tarot card on the table.

"I've never been one to believe in that kind of stuff, but Claire found it interesting" Mobius scoffed with a faint smile "She said that might have been my future, but I was already a hero to one person…to her. I never understood why she would say that, she was never in a situation that required me to save her so why did she say I was her hero?"

"Maybe it was just because you were her big brother" Meia said.

Mobius looked at Meia with the same faint smile "Coming from someone with a background like yours that's a pretty interesting thing to say".

"Its true that those of us from Mejere believe all men to be our enemies, and both Tarak and Mejere will never believe that men and women used to live together in the same families, but…somehow I don't see it as impossible".

Mobius looked at Meia again "Maybe you and I are supposed to be the ones to reunite the two genders. By living together we can unite all".

Meia's face turned red before Mobius chuckled, "I'm kidding".

"What was she like?" Meia asked him.

Mobius closed his eyes for a few seconds before looking back at the card on the table "Claire was something special, I can only count a few times when she wasn't smiling".

"What about you?" Meia asked "What were you like back then?"

That's when Mobius' smile faded completely "That's the problem. I can remember everything from my past except myself. My name, my age, I can't remember a damn thing about myself, but everything else is as clear as day, figures huh?"

Meia looked down at the card as well "Maybe there's a reason for that" Mobius looked up from the card and his eyes met Meia's "There's a book I read once as a child, a girl couldn't remember anything about herself, her name or her age, but she could remember everything else including the place where she grew up. Strangely enough her home was also destroyed although in the story it was destroyed by monsters. No one knew her name so everyone just called her Angel for all of the good deeds she did. When she sealed away the last of the monsters and saved the world she finally remembered her name".

"What was it?" Mobius asked her.

Meia smiled faintly, "Meia".

Mobius chuckled, "Really?"

Meia nodded, "My mother loved that story and when I was born she named me after the girl in that book. She showed it to me when I was 6, I remember asking her if I had the power to help people like that girl did. She said I had the power to do whatever I wanted to all it would take is motivation to set out on my path and the will to see it through".

"Maybe that's it then" Mobius smiled "Once I help all of you stop the harvest and save Mejere and Tarak I'll remember my name" the pilot chuckled again "Of course I'd have saved two worlds so my track record would be just a tad higher than that girl's".

Meia scoffed, "That sounds like something a man would say" she continued to smile "There is something about you though".

Mobius dropped his smile and looked at her.

"Even though you mainly keep to yourself, you exude this aura of some kind. Something that makes people rally around you, it's strange. I don't fully understand it, but I almost feel as though as long as you're with us we can't lose".

Mobius hummed, "Sky Eye, the callsign of the AWACS operator assigned to most of my sorties said the same thing once. I remember him saying as we were flying to destroy Stonehenge that the world was in need of new heroes…me a hero, that's pretty funny".

"A hero huh?" Meia said with a small smile as she got up and walked away "Maybe that's why I feel so attracted to you, someone I could follow and trust to get me through to the other side unharmed".

Meia left the cafeteria, leaving Mobius alone again. The pilot ran his hand over his jet black hair as he sighed "A hero huh? I ended a war, but can I really save two worlds from destruction?"

That's when he remembered Sky Eye's last words after Megalith was destroyed _"Heroes really do exist. We've just seen one"._

* * *

><p><strong>AN.** And chapter 10 marked and done.

Here we see one of my favorite Vandread characters make his debut, the mysterious Rabat.

Right away the captain, BC and Mobius knew he wasn't to be trusted and it seems they were right, but not before Mobius saved Hibiki from the con man's rage.

And the captain along with BC and Meia get a first hand account into Mobius' past from the man himself adding that he could remember everything from his past except his own name. Meia then reveals to him that a story from her child hood involving a character in the same situation.

Could the two be related or is it merely coincidence? And it seems that not only Meia, but now Hibiki as well is looking up to the man whose enemies called the Grim Reaper.

Tune in next time as we draw ever closer to the end of Vandread Mobius...Stage 1.


	11. What to Believe

Mobius was in the garden sector under the end of the bridge, he was staring at the protected tarot card "The World" as he cradled it gently in his hands.

"I'd give anything to see you again" the pilot whispered as he looked at the face of the card "You don't have to stand there Meia" he said aloud looking up from the card.

Meia walked around the corner "I don't know why I'm always so surprised that you know when I'm watching" the dread leader sat next to Mobius and looked at the card in his hands "I can't begin to imagine how much she must have meant to you".

Mobius slowly ran his thumb across the card protector case, but didn't say anything.

"That captain would like to see you" Meia told him.

"Alright" Mobius said, getting up and sliding the card back into his breast pocket and followed Meia to the conference room.

Entering the room alongside Meia, Mobius gave Captain Magno and BC a stern salute before taking a seat at the table with Meia next to him.

The captain smiled at the ISAF pilot, "Thank you for coming Mobius, I'll get right to you once I finish with BC".

Mobius silently nodded and the captain returned her attention to her subordinate "Now what were you saying BC?"

BC activated the projector in the center of the table, the image showed a deep blue colored planet.

"Approximately 99% of the planet's surface is covered in water; scans also show that the planet maintains a nitrogen and oxygen atmosphere which means it fulfils the requirements for sustaining life. Deeper scans have also detected a colonization ship on the ocean floor as well as a single, small island whose inhabitants seem to be humanoid".

The projector turned off and Magno smiled "Well then, why don't we go say hello to our long lost relatives". She then looked to Mobius "Now that that's over, there's something I'd like to discuss with you young man".

"Alright" Mobius replied, making direct eye contact with the captain.

"That business with that man Rabat a few weeks ago" Magno began.

"You mean when I shot him" Mobius said.

Magno nodded, "Indeed. Even though you and the other men are still considered prisoners, you are members of my crew and you protected Hibiki from that man. Add to it that since you've first come aboard this ship you haven't hesitated once to assist when we were under attack. You've proven yourself an invaluable ally; I'd also like you to take on a more active role on the ship".

"What do you mean?" Mobius asked her.

BC activated the projector again; the image showed the battle from a few days ago, the majority of the enemy formation was Yellows instead of harvester drones, but thanks to Mobius 1's unmatched skills as a pilot the enemy was defeated with no casualties and minimum damage to the Nirvana.

Magno closed her eyes as she spoke, "We are running into these Yellows more and more with each battle, and you seem to be the only one capable of keeping up with them. I'd like you to start training some of our pilots".

"You want me to train the other pilots?" Mobius asked her.

BC continued, "Our pilots are barely able to protect themselves let alone the ship from attacks by the Yellows, as the captain said you're the only one capable of handling them. You're skills as a pilot cannot be denied, it would be a great help to all of us".

Mobius lowered his eyes for a few seconds before answering, "I can understand the need to better train the pilots, but I'm not so sure training is in my list of skills. I'd be willing to give it a shot, but I'm not sure how it'll turn out".

The captain smiled at him, "I have faith that you'll do just fine".

Mobius exhaled slowly, "Well I hope you're right, so when should I start?"

Magno continued, "I don't see any reason to delay, we're going to play it safe today and get a full scan of the island and the planet to be sure it's safe first, so you'll have about an hour".

"An hour isn't enough time to begin proper training" Mobius told her "If that's all the time I have then I suggest you just inform the pilots you want trained of what will be happening".

"Hmm, that may be a good point" Magno agreed "How about this then, instead of training the attack teams, I'll assign to you a handful of pilots that you'll train into a special strike team capable of repelling the Yellows".

"So instead of training the entire front line of the dreads I'll only be training four or five pilots?" Mobius asked before placing his hand around his chin and thinking for a second "That I should be able to do, alright captain" Mobius stood up and held his fist up in front of his shoulder "You'll have your counter strike team by the end of the month".

Magno smiled again, "I thank you Mobius, I'll have your new trainees gather in the hangar at once. I look forward to the end result of their training".

The meeting was concluded and Mobius left the hangar, with Meia following close behind him, "Was this your idea by any chance?" Mobius asked her.

Meia moved her eyes away from him, "Not directly. I merely mentioned to the captain that we should double our training efforts to deal with the Yellows, I guess she decided to let you train the crew to deal with them better".

Mobius smirked, "Good enough, now on to the next question".

"What is it?" Meia asked him, returning her eyes to him.

"Don't take this the wrong way or anything" Mobius began, "But I've noticed that you've been watching me more and more often in the past few weeks" he said stopping in the middle of the corridor "Why is that I wonder?"

Meia blushed and looked away from him "I…I'm not sure".

Mobius gave a light laugh, "It doesn't bother me at all, I was just curious. Now let's go see these trainees".

Entering the hangar, Mobius saw three women standing around his F-22 gazing up at it as if they were watching a divine figure.

"So it's just you three then?" Mobius asked, startling all of them.

The three women turned around and stood nervously at attention, "Yes Captain" the one in the center said. She had brunette hair with a pony tail hanging from the back and a single bang on the left side of her face that reached her shoulder. She was easily the shortest of the group standing somewhere around 5'6 with bright green eyes.

"Captain?" Mobius repeated.

"It was your rank back in ISAF correct?" the girl asked.

"Indeed it was" Mobius replied, "But please, it's just Mobius".

The girl stuttered, "I…I'm sorry, I didn't mean any…"

"Its fine" Mobius smiled "I've been offended by professionals, you don't have to worry about it. Anyway, let's get to the introductions shall we?"

The first girl on the left went first, "My name is Laura Harper, I was original assigned to the B-Teams, most of my assignments during battle involve protecting the ship and providing support for retreating pilots".

"It's nice to meet you Laura" Mobius said with a slight nod before looking to the center pilot who spoke before.

The center pilot bowed her head, "My name is Yukiko Narukami, I was a member of the front line dreads before being selected for this, I…I look forward to training under you".

"I'm also looking forward to what you can do Yukiko" Mobius smiled before looking to the last pilot, "And what's your name?"

The last pilot moved her eyes to Meia who was standing behind Mobius; clearly she didn't like the idea of being trained by a man. Meia gave the pilot a quick nod and the pilot introduced herself, "I'm Leona Harper, second in command of the B-teams".

"Harper?" Mobius asked, "Does that mean" he began as he looked back to the first pilot.

"Leona is Laura's older sister" Yukiko said, catching Mobius' attention "She's also very traditional in Mejere's views against men, so please don't take any offense to anything she says".

"I wouldn't worry about that" Mobius told Yukiko, "So it's just going to be the three of you? I can handle that".

"Five actually" Meia told him.

Mobius looked over his shoulder at Meia as she continued, "The captain wants you to train Hibiki and myself as well".

Mobius looked back to his fighter, "You I don't mind, but I draw the line at training Hibiki, that boy is going to get himself killed and it won't be while he's under my command".

"You misunderstand" Meia told him, "The captain merely wants you to add the two of us to your training plans, we won't be part of the team you're forming, but we'll be pilots capable of dealing with the Yellows as well that's all".

Mobius sighed, "Don't really have much choice" he said calmly.

Leona scoffed arrogantly, "I knew you were all talk".

Mobius, Meia and the other two trainees looked to Leona, "I've seen you around the ship a couple of times and all you ever do is sleep and drink coffee, what have you contributed to this ship and crew since you joined?"

Mobius immediately replied in a very arrogant and sarcastic tone, "Saved, Meia's life, saved Hibiki's life, single-handedly saved the ship from colliding with an asteroid, fought off an enemy attack alone…I can keep going".

Leona gritted her teeth before throwing her head to the side and walking out of the hangar with a scowl on her face.

"She does not like me" Mobius noted calmly after Leona left the hangar.

Laura apologized for her sister's attitude, but Mobius dismissed her concerns, "Trust me Laura I do not care. As long as she follows orders I won't have a problem with her". Mobius looked over his shoulder at Meia and then toward his fighter, "We'll start the first part of your training tomorrow first thing in the morning, 7' sharp, understood?"

Laura and Yukiko both bowed their heads and left the hangar, leaving Meia and Mobius alone.

"Don't expect me to go easy on you" Mobius said, "I may not be sure about my abilities to train others, but I'm going to force everything I know into all of you" that's when the ship's alarm went off.

Mobius looked down to his left wrist, "You could set your watch by it…if I had one of course".

Climbing up into his fighter, Mobius looked back at Meia with a cocky smirk, "See ya on the other side".

Meia smirked back at him before turning to run to her dread.

"This is Mobius 1, I'm taking off".

"Roger Mobius 1" Belvedere replied from the bridge "You're cleared to take off, I know you won't let us down".

The F-22's engines roared to life and echoed through the Nirvana's auxiliary platform as they've done almost a hundred times before and the fighter shot out of the hangar and into space with Meia's dread right behind it.

"Analyzing enemy formation" Ezra said over the radios, "Approximately 12 cube types, 2 Yellows and a strange machine I can't identify".

"Only two?" Mobius asked "Then this won't take long".

Immediately separating from the dread teams, Mobius flew ahead of his allies to engage the two enemy Yellows.

Mobius quickly gained a double lock on the two enemies, but then the unexpected happened. The two Yellows broke away from each other and fled from the battle.

"The two Yellows are retreating" Ezra announced.

"Why would they come all this way just to run?" BC wondered.

"Who cares" Hibiki yelled as he swung the Vanguard's sword at a cube type and missed "If they want to turn tail and run then its easier for us…ARGH DAMMIT HOLD STILL!"

"It seems they've learned to evade our attacks" Meia noted.

After finally destroying an enemy Hibiki flicked his thumb across his nose as a victory sign, that's when Jura's dread hovered over him "Hey there, so are you ready for me?"

"You wish!" Hibiki barked.

"Mr. Alien look out behind you!" Dita cheered before shooting down an enemy targeting the Vanguard pilot "Hey if you're going to combine you should do it with me!"

"No thanks, I'll pass" Hibiki replied flying away from both of the dread pilots.

"Aww why not?" Dita whined.

While Hibiki engaged the few remaining enemies on his own, Mobius watched their attack and evasion patterns closely, getting an idea on their new tactics and how to deal with them.

"That's not good" he muttered after watching how one of the cube types evaded the Vanguard while the others attacked it from all sides.

Suddenly Ezra cried, "Warning there's an unknown object coming in at high speed, all pilots evade! Hurry!"

"What!?" Hibiki yelled "What kind of object!?"

"Don't question it just move to evade!" Mobius ordered, "Everyone fall back to the Nirvana and get inside its shields, go!"

Hibiki swung his sword one last time to force the cube types away from him and turned to flee toward the safety of the Nirvana's shields along with his allies, but the cube types latched onto the Vanguard and began dragging it toward the planet below them.

"Hibiki!" both Meia and Mobius yelled at the same time.

"Jura what are you doing!?" Barnette yelled after seeing Jura's dread speeding after the Vanguard, the blonde pilot laughing maniacally, "Get the camera ready Barnette, you're going to see the perfect elegance of my Vandread now!"

Barnette yelled, "Jura you can't be serious, pull up or your dread will burn to pieces! Jura! JURA!"

"They've began their descent into the atmosphere!" Ezra cried.

"10 seconds until the object passes us!" Belvedere announced before counting down "5, 4, 3, 2, 1!"

Whatever it was, the object flashed past the Nirvana and by the planet below them in an instant, so fast that none of them could see it.

"Just what the heck was that?" the captain yelled after the object flew by them and completely vanished.

Ezra announced, "Contact with the Vanguard and Jura has been lost, but there's a new signature on radar".

An image appeared above the bridge showing a large claw shaped crimson ship.

"It's a crab" Aramone said as her face faulted and her left eye began twitching.

"Are all pilots accounted for?" BC asked the operators.

"Yes commander" Belvedere replied "All pilots safe and accounted for including Jura and Hibiki, their vitals are showing up in the new Vandread below".

Ezra had a faint smile on her face "Scans show minimal to no damage on all dreads, once again no damage sustained by Mobius 1".

"Captain!" Aramone cried, "I managed to capture an image of the object on the high speed cameras" the bridge bunny displayed a still image on a screen above the bridge.

"What is that thing?" Belvedere asked after seeing the image above them "I've never seen anything like it".

"It's a bullet" Magno told them "A very large one at that…I'm also willing to bet my life that Mobius might know something about it as well".

"Mobius?" Belvedere repeated.

The pilots all returned to the ship and Mobius was immediately called to bridge.

Entering the bridge Mobius quickly zeroed in on the image above them and immediately recognized it, "Aaaaah Hell" he sighed with great annoyance.

"I take it you know what this is?" BC asked him.

"Unfortunately" Mobius replied, "It's a giant bullet fired from a super weapon called Stonehenge. That weapon was responsible for the loss of hundreds of aces during the Usean Continental War…it took a long time for it to be destroyed".

"Are you sure it was destroyed?" BC asked him.

Mobius immediately gave the sub commander a 'Did you really say that look' before he answered "No I'm not sure" he said sarcastically "I mean all I did was fly into the structure's perimeter, empty my entire payload and watch each of the gun turrets explode".

"There's an incoming message from the planet below!" Aramone announced.

"Patch it through" Magno ordered calmly.

A screen appeared above the bridge showing a pale skinned, but lovely young woman with blonde hair almost as long as Jura's. She bowed to them before speaking "Greetings travelers, my name is Faneita and welcome to Anpathos".

"Anpathos? Is that the name of your planet?" Magno asked.

The woman smiled, "That is correct, we have called it that since we first arrived here many years ago. We are so glad to see you; we've been waiting for you to appear".

"Waiting for us?" Magno wondered "What do you mean?"

"You are the Munya are you not?" Faneita asked.

Magno replied, "I'm afraid not, we are not these Munya you are referring to. Pardon me for being so direct, but may we visit you, there are some questions I'd like to ask".

Faneita's expression became a bit withdrawn, "Our ceremony is at hand so I'm afraid we won't be able to greet you properly".

"Oh there's no need to worry about that" Magno told her. Faneita bowed her head once again and the screen shut off. Opening a communication screen with Bart in the Helmsman portal, Magno left him in charge of the ship while she was away.

Before her chair turned around to slide back and out of the bridge Magno looked down to BC and Mobius, "BC, Mobius I want the two of you to come with me just in case".

Down on Anpathos, Hibiki stood on the island's beach and looked around. Seeing all the decorations and everything the young pilot couldn't help, but wonder if there was some kind of festival going on. Spotting a shuttle landing near the center of the town, Hibiki called out to Jura who was still sitting on the edge of the Vandread sulking.

"Hey can you hear me!?" he yelled at her.

Jura looked over her shoulder and glared at him "Unfortunately yes!"

Giving up on Jura, Hibiki rushed into the town to find his allies.

"I'm just going to go ahead and say it" Mobius said as he, BC and the captain stepped off the ship "I don't trust these people. They're way too friendly".

The captain told him to calm down, "I have my suspicions as well Mobius, but for now we must remain calm and get some answers".

"Hey old lady!" Hibiki's voice called.

Looking to their side, the three of them saw Hibiki rushing over to them, nearly knocking over several people in his rush.

"Little one" Magno said surprised, "You're alive are you?"

"Where's Jura?" BC asked.

Hibiki huffed and crossed his arms "I don't want to talk about Ms. Crabby right now".

"Well as long as both of you are safe everything is fine" Magno said with a small smile "Why don't you come with us for now".

With Hibiki joining them, the four of them headed for the tall temple at the center of the island where Faneita was waiting for them.

Once inside Mobius quickly glanced up toward the ceiling to see how high the tower went before returning his eyes to the woman before them.

"This is the way to the holy path" she said to them graciously.

"It's very impressive" Magno said, "But would you mind telling us about these Munya you were expecting?"

The woman gladly and somewhat proudly answered the captain's question, "They were the ones who led our ancestors here in the first place. We are very grateful to them, we consider the Munya to be the very foundation of Anpathos and according to prophecy they will be in great need of us soon".

"In great need of you?" BC repeated.

Mobius made eye contact with Faneita, "By the way you speak of them, you consider the Munya like gods, or at the very least beings of a higher power. So what could such powerful entities need from humans?"

Once again Faneita answered proudly, "They are in need of the spiral code, which only we can provide to them".

"Spiral code?" BC asked before feeling something pressing against her spine.

BC looked to her right at Mobius who had gently pressed his finger against her spine and then nodded his head to his right, toward a gigantic banner hanging on the wall showing the image of a kneeling man with a large spiral object coming from his back.

Feeling Mobius tap his finger against her spine one last time BC came to a horrible realization, "The spinal cord!"

BC's radio beeped and Bart's voice informed them of an enemy formation approaching the Nirvana and a second, larger formation heading for the island they were on.

"Captain!" BC cried turning to face her leader.

Magno felt a crippling pain shoot across her back and she hunched over, falling to one knee.

Mobius immediately drew his pistol and aimed it at Faneita and the two men standing behind her. Looking over his shoulder he ordered, "Hibiki, get back to Jura and defend the planet and the Nirvana. Do whatever it takes".

Hibiki nodded, "Right, just leave it to me".

Hibiki turned to run out of the temple, but Mobius called out to him, "Hibiki! Don't forget, my Raptor is still on the ship so you better not let anything happen to it".

Hibiki smirked at him, "I can handle that you just focus on keeping the old lady and commander alive until this is all over" with that, Hibiki left the temple and made a full sprint for the beach where he left Jura and the new Vandread.

Smirking almost evilly, Mobius returned his eyes to Faneita, "And I can handle this".

Not long after Hibiki left, several overlapping voices flooded BC's radio.

"What should we do?" Bart screamed.

"It's obvious isn't it?" Meia asked him "You want us to defend the ship right?"

Bart could be heard whimpering before he issued his order, "DREAD TEAMS SCRAMBLE!"

The dread teams launched into battle to defend the Nirvana and the planet as best they could.

"The two Yellows from before have returned!" Ezra cried "And there's another one in the second formation!"

"Three Yellows are you kidding!?" one of the pilot's voices yelled.

"Can we beat Yellows by ourselves?" another pilot yelled "We've never come close to hitting one. Only Mobius can shoot them down".

Meia's voice answered, "Regardless of whether we think we can or can't…We have to defend the ship at all costs. The Yellows may be much more dangerous than the rest of the enemies we've encountered, but we can't let that scare us. We have to win, we're going to win!"

BC and Magno could just barely see the edge of a smile on Mobius' face after Meia's speech.

"Now that's how a leader should act" he whispered to himself as he kept his gun on Faneita and her group.

The battle above the planet immediately became heated with almost 20% of the enemy falling in the first few minutes and 17% of the Nirvana pilots forced to return to the ship from the damage they've sustained.

"The enemy's numbers are dwindling; we can do this just keep going!" Barnette yelled.

Meia then ordered, "Just focus on the regular enemies for now and evade the Yellows as best you can. I'm sure they'll retreat once we put a big enough dent in their forces".

Several enemies managed to slip through the dreads and attack the Nirvana head on, thankfully the ship's shields were up, but that didn't make Bart feel any better.

"Ah I don't wanna die here!" the helmsman yelled.

That's when Magno snatched the radio from BC's hand, "Grow a spine!" she growled at the helmsman "I've lived a long life and have seen many young lives cut short and it is in respect to those who've fallen under me in the past that I refuse to allow myself or any of us to die now".

Mobius smiled once again, "It is up to each person to choose they're own path in life. You've chosen to live as the blind and the submissive while we've chosen to fight that which hunts us. Our beliefs may be different, but when it comes down to it we all have the same choice. To follow what we believe in, to fight for it, but there's another difference between us other than our beliefs. I chose to make my own path in life while all of you just kneeled down and asked for it to be given to you".

Mobius finally lowered his gun and slid it back in its holster, "Those too weak or scared to make their own paths in life, to leave their mark in history. Those kind of people aren't worth my time. So if you want to throw your lives away then I won't stop you, but don't you dare question us for wanting to keep living, to keep fighting so we can continue to weave out our own stories. Our right to exist, our right to see where our paths will take us and most importantly how they'll end once our time has come".

"I too have seen too many lives cut short, several of them were very important to me. I became a pilot to take revenge on those who did it that is the path I choose. A path of revenge to show those who took my world from me the gates they had opened, the line that never should have been crossed, but they dared to cross it anyway. Those men and women also choose their paths and I do not fault them for it, but when it comes to a clash of beliefs it doesn't matter what kind of weapons, words or fancy prophecies you have at your back".

Mobius' voice changed, it became…calm "The only thing that matters is your conviction, the determination you use to carry yourself. It doesn't matter what you believe in, if you don't have the conviction, the will to see it through, if you falter for even a moment then you will lose when faced with someone who truly believes in what they fight for".

"You may believe that these Munya are here to help guide you, but that alone isn't enough. Without something to fight for, something to protect! Anyone who has something to fight for will be able to defeat you".

Mobius smiled again and regained his sarcastic tone, "I have no need to challenge any of you because I know my conviction is set, my will unshakable and my determination indomitable. My revenge was complete long ago, but now I have a new path in life. To protect my allies from those who seek to kill them, the same entities you call the Munya. As long as they threaten these people, my allies, my crewmates, people I care about…I'll continue to fight off every single one of them and see to it that they have the tomorrow they're looking forward to".

Out in space, during Mobius' speech Meia took a bad hit from a Yellow while protecting Dita from a frontal assault by two cube-types and then the unexpected happened. She turned around and landed a hit on a Yellow, shooting its wing clean off.

"A Yellow's been hit!" Ezra cried "Meia just shot down a Yellow!"

All of the pilots and everyone across the ship were in awe a Yellow, the single most dangerous enemy they've ever faced was just shot down by someone other than Mobius.

Back inside the temple however, Mobius and the captain didn't seem surprised at all.

"I knew she had it in her" Magno smiled, Mobius merely smiled.

"The other two Yellows are retreating!" Belvedere cheered.

Aramone announced, "Vandread Jura is holding position above the planet!"

Vandread Jura hovered over the planet and its claw opened sending out several green colored discs that produced a green shield connecting to the Vandread and other discs, covering the entire planet.

Jura cheered from within the new Vandread, "If anyone else thinks they can shield an entire planet I'd like to see them try!"

Hibiki slid around in his chair, "Don't start celebrating just yet, we've still got one to deal with!"

He brought his fist down on the controls to the new Vandread activating another disc that hovered over the Vandread itself, the new disc summoned a vortex draining water from the planet's ocean up toward it and directing it at a giant machine the harvest brought with them.

The giant machine opened into something that resembled a mouth and moved toward the Vandread and the planet it was protecting, intent of swallowing them both.

"Feeling hungry huh?" Hibiki asked "Well let's see how you like this!"

The raging column of ocean water being summoned by the Vandread was fired directly into the machine's mouth, filling it to the point to where it couldn't take anymore and finally exploded from the built up pressure.

With their new weapon destroyed, more than half their forces lost and a Yellow shot down, the remaining enemies retreated as quickly as they appeared leaving the crew of the Nirvana with another victory.

With the battle finished, BC and the captain along with Mobius returned to the Nirvana, leaving the inhabitants of Anpathos to rethink their paths in life.

Once back on the ship, Mobius found Hibiki and in his own way congratulated him on keeping the ship and his fighter safe.

Once that was done he returned to his room in the brig to find Meia surprisingly waiting for him outside his cell.

"And to what do I owe this predicted intrusion?" he asked her.

Meia scoffed with a cocky smirk before walking over to him, "I just wanted to let you know, you're no longer the only one who can shoot down a Yellow".

"Luck is luck" Mobius replied, "It runs out eventually".

Meia scoffed again before walking out of the brig, but Mobius called over to her.

"Hey Meia" he called, waiting for her to turn around.

When Mobius called her name, Meia froze, she expected him to say something sarcastic again, but his tone sounded gentle this time. She had seen a softer, friendlier side of him before, but this time it was different, she could feel her face heating up and her heart began racing.

After a few seconds, Mobius finally walked over to her and gently placed his hand on her shoulder "Why don't we go to the cafeteria and grab some coffee. Since you're going to be included in this training of mine I want to go ahead and go over a few things with you".

Meia had a soft smile on her face as the two pilots walked out of the brig and toward the elevator, but she could still feel her face getting hotter and her heart racing even more. She didn't know why, but she didn't want Mobius to see her like that so she hid her face as much as possible for the rest of the night until the two final returned to their respective rooms for the night.

That night, Meia dreamed peacefully, she dreamed of a space battle she was fighting alone, just her against an entire enemy formation, but on the other side of the formation was Mobius' F-22. She could hear him calling to her from it, cheering her on, telling her that she can win.

She was going to prove that she could be as good as he was; she wanted him to acknowledge her skills as a pilot and perhaps even something beyond that.

She dreamed for the entire night, with a pleased smile on her face, one no one could take from her.

* * *

><p><strong>AN.** Well it's been a long time coming, but its finally up at long, long last.

My deepest apologies for taking so long, but there have been so many things getting in the way lately.

Power surges erasing around 5 pages worth of work, getting sick...again, writer's block and I've recently found an interesting new anime that I've come to enjoy.  
>Its called Sword Art Online and I recommend it if you're an RPG fan, got a nice storyline and some interesting characters to boot.<p>

Anyway I'm signing out for now, see ya next time!


	12. That Special Time of Year

Across the ship the entire crew seemed to be in very high spirits, well everyone except the four men, Bart, Duelo, Hibiki and of course Mobius.

The four men were inside the brig, Mobius was lying on his cot in his cell, facing the wall with his eyes closed. The side of his head was resting on top of his open left hand and his right hand was tucked under his chest.

The other three were talking, trying to understand what the women were so excited about.

"As far as I can tell it looks like some kind of festival" Duelo told them.

"Festival?" Both Bart and Hibiki repeated.

Duelo nodded, "From what I've overheard its something they call Christmas a very important holiday on Mejere".

"Christmas huh?" Bart asked "Any idea what it's all about?"

Duelo lowered his eyes "I'm afraid not". The young doctor's eyes slowly moved over to Mobius' cell and Hibiki got up and walked over to the ace pilot.

"Hey Mobius" the Tarak teen blurted out rather loudly "Any idea what this Christmas thing is?"

Mobius didn't answer, he just laid there, but Hibiki could see him breathing slowly.

"Hey are you awake?" he half-yelled.

"I'm sleeping" Mobius said in a lazy fake sleeping tone.

"So what's this festival thing all about?" Hibiki asked him again "You did say you came from a world where women and men lived together right? So do you have any ideas?"

"Mother of God you're not listening are you?" Mobius muttered out loud as Hibiki continued to ask him questions.

Ignoring Mobius' sarcasm, Hibiki continued to ask him what he knew about the holiday. Finally Mobius finally jumped into a sitting position facing the young pilot and in a very annoyed tone said, "Ok look here's the deal. I'm going to go somewhere and lay down for the nap I deserve after spending an entire week training you and those three women who quite frankly I'm surprised are even considered pilots. So I'm going to give you as friendly a warning as I'm emotionally capable of expressing, follow me or approach me before I my nap is over and I will be forced to kill you".

Mobius then gave Hibiki a quick nod before getting up and leaving the brig.

Hibiki growled after Mobius left, "He's such a jerk. I'm getting really tired of his attitude".

"Try to look at it from his point of view then" Duelo said to him.

Hibiki looked over his shoulder curious as to what the young doctor meant.

Duelo continued, "So far he's the only one who can defeat the enemies he calls Yellows, Meia may have succeeded in shooting one down, but the captain has given him a difficult task to accomplish. Training you, Meia and three others to also defeat the Yellows is no easy mission. For him to do that he has to put aside his personal feelings on the rest of the crew including you to make sure he trains you well enough. It may not seem like it, but he cares about you as an ally, he's protecting you in his own way by making sure you're ready to fight the enemy that he's only able to deal with so far".

Hibiki grunted as he looked away and left the brig himself, "He's definitely got a strange way of showing that".

Entering the ship's garden section, Mobius saw the changes the crew had made to garden and the bridge above it.

The pilot hid it, but he was happy to see everyone enjoying themselves. After everything they've been through they really did deserve a holiday and hopefully it would stay that way.

"Maybe the hangar will be empty" he muttered as he turned around to meet a smiling Ezra.

The bridge bunny held up two large decorations, a bell and a star "What do you think Mobius?" she asked him "Which one do you think I should put up?"

"Does the bell ring?" Mobius asked her.

"Of course it does" Ezra told him.

Mobius immediately replied, "Let's go with the star". Mobius continued past Ezra with a small smile as he left the garden sector.

After he left the garden sector Mobius made his way to the hangar, meeting Meia along the way.

"You seem tired" the blue haired pilot said to him.

"Very" Mobius moaned "Apparently I can't sleep in my cell because Hibiki keeps asking me questions about Christmas. Bart keeps asking me things in general about what it was like back on my world, thankfully Duelo can tell if I don't feel like talking and leaves me alone…I'm starting to regret agreeing to this whole strike team idea".

"You're not planning on backing out are you?" Meia asked him.

Mobius shook his head, "No. Now that you've managed to destroy a Yellow some of the other pilots are getting ahead of themselves, I overheard Leona and a few others talking. Leona thinks she can do it to and if she tries she'll get shot down I'm not going to let that happen".

"Meia gave him a cocky smile, "Leona can't stand the sight of you, she hates being on the same ship as you and you're going to keep training her?"

"Captain's orders I'm afraid" Mobius replied, "Personally if I had been given the power of selection I would've gone with some less short tempered pilots".

The two of them arrived at the hangar and walked over to a corner surrounded by crates, almost completely hidden in the shadows. "This'll do nicely" Mobius muttered as he sat on the floor and leaned back against the wall with his arms crossed.

"What are you doing?" Meia asked him.

"Taking a nap" Mobius told her "This past week hasn't exactly been easy on me. You, Laura and Yukiko can follow orders to the letter, but Hibiki and Leona are really testing my patience. And since I can't sleep in my cell and there's currently no one in the hangar I'm going to sleep here for a few hours".

Mobius nodded his head to his left "Sit" he told her as he closed his eyes.

Meia quietly sat on the floor next to Mobius; she could feel her heart beating faster the closer she got to him, but what she didn't understand is why she tensed up. _"It only happens when we're alone"_ she thought _"Everytime it's just the two of us I tense up and my heart beats faster…why is that?"_

"Be honest with me Meia" Mobius said quietly bringing the pilot out of her thoughts. "How would you rate your skills as a pilot? Overall not compared to the rest of the crew".

Meia thought for a few seconds before answering, "I want to say I'm strong enough to protect myself, but…I've seen you outdo me more times than I'd like to think about…I wouldn't rate myself very high".

Mobius scoffed with a smirk, "As I thought". Meia looked at him with a curious gaze, Mobius continued "You're too hard on yourself. I've noticed that while I'm training you and the others you continue to push yourself further and further, but at last second your performance falls. Why is that?"

Meia lowered her head and looked away from Mobius even though his eyes were still closed, "I…" she sighed "I don't know, I start to think that I can defeat them to, but then I remember how easily they shot me down that day and I freeze. Then I remember what you told me after I woke up…When I think about what's happened so far I realize I'm not as strong as I want to be, but it feels like I can't get any stronger…I can't protect everyone the way I am now".

Mobius' smirk vanished as he gently rubbed his back against the wall to find a more relaxed position, "You need to stop thinking like that. You're a great pilot Meia and I'm not saying that to make you feel better or fear of being shot down again…you're trying to prove something".

Meia leaned back against the wall "So what do you think I'm trying to prove?"

"That's something you have to ask yourself" Mobius replied "Only you can answer that one".

Meia leaned her head back and closed her eyes _"I'm trying to prove something? To myself or to someone else…or am I trying to prove it to you?"_

Meia slowly opened her eyes; she could feel her head resting against something comfortable. "I must've fallen asleep" she muttered before she realized what she was leaning against.

Meia tilted her head up and noticed she was leaning against Mobius' shoulder; she gasped and quickly withdrew from him, she could feel her face heating up and her heart began beating faster.

"Why am I panicking?" she whispered to herself "I've spent plenty of time around him so why…why do I feel so nervous now?"

Mobius moaned silently as he brought himself back up into a sitting position and quickly opened his eyes before immediately getting back to his feet and sighing "Good nap" he said to himself before taking a few steps forward and then turning around to see Meia.

"You're still here" he said "How long was I out?"

Meia moved her eyes away from him trying to hide the fact that she was blushing, "I'm not sure…I…I fell asleep as well".

Mobius smiled, "Heh, looks like that whole hardcore leader thing is just an act after all".

Meia narrowed her eyes into a glare making Mobius scoff with another smug look.

"A little rest is good every now and then" he told her "You don't have to keep working all the time".

Mobius kneeled down and held his hand out to Meia to pull her to her feet. Once Meia was back to her feet, Mobius turned around and began walking away on his own "Oh and don't think I didn't catch you snuggling against me" he called back to her.

Meia gasped and her face turned red, she watched in stunned silence as Mobius left the hangar before she regained her composure.

Shaking her head fiercely, Meia then lightly slapped herself before going back to work to take her mind off what just happened.

Walking the halls of the ship, Mobius heard a loud crashing sound from down the hall and could just barely make out Hibiki's yells. Turning a corner, Mobius spotted Duelo and Bart outside a small storage closet, "What's going on now?" he asked them casually.

"Dita thought there would be some old Christmas decorations in one of the storage rooms" Duelo told him.

Bart continued, "Then Hibiki just crashed through one of the walls. We were going to take a look right as you got here".

Mobius hummed before slipping past the two men and stepping into the hidden room Hibiki found.

"Interesting" he said before running his finger along the side of what looked like a grandfather clock, "These have been here a long time" he continued rubbing the dust from his finger.

Duelo did the same with a large picture, "It's possible that these have been here since the colonization era".

"Wasn't that almost a hundred years ago doc?" Bart asked him.

"According to the captain" Mobius began "It was 103 years ago…give or take a few weeks".

"Hey look at this!" Dita said as she held up an old plastic object that read "X-mas with family".

"What do you suppose it is?" the redhead asked them.

"Well it says X-mas with family" Mobius replied, "It's probably a video a family recorded during Christmas. Back in the old days people often shortened Christmas to X-mas, sometimes just to save time during conversation or save room when writing down holiday wishes and such".

Mobius was about to leave the room before something caught his eye.

Slowly and carefully stepping over to the dark corner of the room, Mobius gently moved a large box to the side before seeing a small sized box with the emblem of Yellow squadron on it.

"Hey did you find something else?" Bart asked him.

Grabbing the box and lifting it into his arms Mobius turned around and left the storage room "See you guys at midnight" without saying anything further to anyone he returned to his cell in the brig.

Sitting on his cot, Mobius placed the box on his lap and used his knife to cut the tape holding it closed and then opening it without hesitation.

The first item in the box was a fur cover photo album with the Yellow squadron emblem stitched on the cover. Opening the album, Mobius quickly scanned over the first few pages of pictures; surprisingly most of them were still in excellent condition. Whoever it belonged to must have taken great care of them.

Several pictures were of Yellow pilots, engineers and mechanics, but Mobius noticed that the same three people appeared many times in most of the photos.

Two adults, obviously Yellow pilots, a man with pale blonde hair and fair skin and a dark skinned woman dark brown hair held up in a royal bun style with a single bang on the left side of her face and in between them a small boy probably around 10 or 12, he also had blonde hair. The three of them seemed happy together.

Mobius felt a small smile on his face when he saw how happy the three of them looked; it reminded him of his own family before his home was destroyed, but then he noticed what was on the shoulder of the man's jacket…The number 13.

"13?" Mobius muttered, "Yellow 13…So that's what he looked liked".

Mobius continued to skim through the photo album seeing almost a hundred photos of Yellow 13 and the same boy, some had the woman in them, but it wasn't until the last picture that he found out who she was.

Seeing the number 4 on her jacket's shoulder, Mobius realized that it was the Yellow he shot down after he destroyed Stonehenge.

Mobius closed the album and set it to his side before realizing something written on the back.

Tilting the book to the side so the light from the hall would reveal the words better he silently read what was on it, "From Yellow 4. Memories are one of the dearest things anyone can have; use this to keep them close".

"You can come in anytime" he said as he set the photo album to the side and looked back in the box.

Meia stepped around the corner of his cell, "I just got here" she said with a small smile before she looked at the box Mobius was sifting through "What is that?"

"A box" Mobius replied immediately.

"_Smartass"_ she mentally smiled before she walked over to him and sat next to him. "So what is that really?"

"I found it in a hidden storage room, Hibiki and Dita discovered" Mobius admitted, "It has Yellow squadron's emblem on it". He tilted the box to show her the emblem before handing her the photo album while he continued to look through the box.

Inside he found several newspaper articles about Yellow squadron and even about a heroic pilot called the "Ribbon". Also inside the box were a small harmonica, a guitar pick and several sealed letters. All of them addressed to the same person…"The ribbon fighter of ISAF".

"The ribbon fighter?" Mobius muttered just loud enough for Meia to hear him.

Immediately opening the first letter, Mobius hastily read the first few lines.

"I was just a child when the stars fell from the sky. But I remember how they built a cannon to destroy them. And in turn, how that cannon brought war upon us."

Mobius continued reading through the letters at a fast pace, once he finished the first one he set it to the side and Meia picked it up to read it herself, but before she could even finish the first one Mobius had set down the second.

"These are all addressed to me" he said after he started reading the last one. "This is dated just after the siege of Farbanti".

"He never returned after that day…I watched from the ground that day as a single fighter took on five members of Yellow squadron, all of them seasoned pilots, yet one by one they were shot down. Until there was only one Yellow left along with the ribbon that fought them. I knew that the last remaining Yellow was 13; I just knew it had to be. I watched as the two of them danced through the sky as they chased one another in a fatal dance to determine the winner, but in the end 13 had lost. His fighter had burst into flames after a final missile impacted the rear of his fighter".

"The barkeep's daughter and myself watched from the ground as 13's fighters screamed toward the ground and vanished followed by a loud explosion signaling the fighter's crash to the ground. We both looked back up to the sky to see the ribbon fighter, flying away and surprisingly Yellow 4's handkerchief fluttered down from the sky and right into my hands…I took a single whiff of the everlasting fragrance on the handkerchief before we buried it where we stood that day".

"I never got to find out what kind of person that ribbon really was, and neither did 13, but I'm sure he was happy the way it ended. He always said since his first run in against him above the Comona Islands when the ribbon fighter damaged his craft".

"It was on that day that he realized that there was a worthy opponent out there after all".

Mobius read the rest in silence before setting the last letter down and got to his feet, "I think I'm going to go out for a bit…I need to clear my head".

Meia watched Mobius quietly leave the room; he seemed to be in a daze almost as he left.

Quickly setting the letters back in the box along with the photo album, Meia left the brig and returned to the hangar just as Mobius was climbing into his fighter.

Looking over to Mobius, Meia smiled "You know if you need to go out for a bit you could help me scan the area to make sure there are no enemies in around".

"Sounds good" Mobius replied quietly.

The two pilots took off without a word to anyone, flying off into space and toward the comet the Nirvana was tracking.

After getting along side the comet, Meia said, "My radar isn't picking anything up, but I wouldn't be surprised if there was something inside the comet's tail waiting for us".

"Honestly I wouldn't be surprised either" Mobius said "Is it safe to try and fly into that thing?"

"Well there's only one way to find out" Meia replied before turning her dread into the tail of the comet and entering the icy storm inside.

"Reckless as Hibiki" Mobius muttered before following her.

With both pilots inside the tail of the comet now, they began scanning the area for any sign of their enemy.

Meia violently turned her dread to the side, performing a half roll to avoid colliding with a chuck of ice before dropping into a reversed turn to avoid another.

"Nice job there ace" Mobius said sarcastically as he easily evaded the ice masses without any trouble.

Meia scoffed, "Must be nice to be able to mock everyone all the time".

"It is pretty nice" Mobius admitted with his signature sarcastic tone before changing to a serious one "Don't panic too much; you'll end up clipping one of them. Focus on the distance between them and your dread".

Meia scoffed again, "Now you're telling me the basics of flying. I think you've let this training thing go to your head".

Meia noticed something gleam behind the cover of the ice mist and jerked her dread to the side just as a big claw shot out at her.

Mobius calmly turned his F-22 away from the claw as it arced toward him.

"Looks like it was a good idea to come out here after all" Mobius said before the hidden enemy extended two of its limbs and activated some kind of webbing that trapped Meia's dread.

"Dammit" Meia growled once her fighter was immobilized.

"How many times do I have to save you?" Mobius asked her as he flew around the side of the enemy trying to keep its attention on him while fired a couple of missiles at the enemy's web.

After the missiles were fired, the webbing began radiating electricity that repelled the missiles causing them to fly widely in random directions before they collided with chucks of ice.

"Well this is going to be a bit challenging" Mobius said as he turned to evade the enemy's claw again.

Meia casually demanded, "Less talk and more getting me out of here".

The F-22 turned around and began firing its guns at the enemy managing to shake it a little before banking away.

After the fighter had turned away, the enemy attacked again, shooting its claw like appendages at Mobius, but to no avail as the veteran ace easily rolled and weaved around them.

"Can you stop playing around?" Meia asked him as her dread began sustaining system damage from the enemy's web.

"Starting to feel a bit of heat huh?" Mobius joked "Alright standby".

Mobius turned around once again and fired a single missile directly at the enemy before the Vanguard appeared and slashed at it with its sword.

Seeing each other Meia and Hibiki both yelled, "What are you doing here?"

Hibiki landed on the webbing that trapped Meia and started stabbing the Vanguard's sword at it, but no progress was made.

"Hmm, brute force again" Mobius taunted, "You know that solution doesn't solve every problem".

"Shut up!" Hibiki barked as the Vanguard pointed at the raptor, "I don't need any advice on how to defeat an enemy".

The Vanguard then turned around and threw its sword at the enemy, impaling its eye.

The Vanguard closed its fist and then brought it down on the webbing, shattering it and freeing Meia.

"Finally" the pilot breathed just as Hibiki caught a chunk of ice from the comet's tail.

"What are you going to do with that?" Meia asked him.

"Who cares, head's up!" Mobius ordered.

The enemy rose up and advanced toward Meia's dread, but a quick strike by a pair of missiles distracted it long enough for Meia to move away.

Taking the opportunity to flee, Meia and Hibiki both flew away at top speed avoiding the chunks of ice within the comet as Mobius distracted the enemy.

"There's no need to hang around here anymore" Hibiki said before the two of them combined into Vandread Meia "We should hurry back, but we can't leave that thing alive".

"I agree with you" Meia said as the Vandread turned around to engage the enemy.

"Target locked" Mobius announced as he flipped off the safety to his special weapons, "Fox three! Fox two!"

Firing a wave of 4 XMAA missiles and two AIM-120 AMRAAM missiles at the enemy before turning away just as Vandread Meia reached maximum speed and pierced through the enemy stunning it long enough for the 6 missiles to impact it's main body causing a devastating explosion that not only destroyed the enemy, but disrupted the comet's tail dispersing it in a grand display of a massive snow fall as the Nirvana passed by it.

"Let's go home shall we?" Mobius asked them as they exited the comet. Both Meia and Hibiki agreed and they returned home, just as the clocks struck midnight and the Christmas celebration aboard the ship began.

On the bridge, all the crew members noticed the sparkling snow falling outside the ship and everyone of them smiled at its beauty as Vandread Meia along with Mobius 1 hovered over the bridge.

"This is where we go our separate ways" Meia said before the Vandread separated into two separate ships again.

The Vanguard landed on the massive window above the bridge and waved the chunk of ice around in its hand, knowing the Dita was watching.

Meanwhile both Mobius and Meia had returned to the hangar and the two pilots climbed out of their fighters.

Dita rushed into the hangar just as the Vanguard landed and the two pilots watched her run over to Hibiki just as he tumbled out of the Vanguard's cockpit.

"Here you go Mr. Alien this is for you!" the redhead smiled, "I wanted you to open it exactly at Midnight, but that's ok".

"Here" Hibiki muttered almost disappointedly, "Most of it melted away already".

He handed her a small piece of ice that quickly melted in the young dread pilot's hand leaving behind a small seed that immediately bloomed into a glistening flower.

"It's so pretty!" Dita gasped, "I love it, thank you" she said holding the flower to her chest.

"Hibiki just did something nice for Dita" Mobius muttered "Color me shocked".

"Looks like he's finally maturing a bit huh?" Meia asked him.

Mobius nodded his head to the side, "Looks that way, but for now I need coffee. Meet me in the garden once everyone else clears out".

Meia watched Mobius leave, not sure what to make of his request asking her to meet him later, but she moved her eyes back to Dita and Hibiki. Dita noticed that Hibiki had passed out right where he was and quickly left to bring him a blanket and pillow instead of waking him up, before she left to return to the party.

Meia left the hangar as well, and returned to the bridge to watch the celebration along side BC who decided to stay on the bridge to monitor the ship and play lookout in case of an attack.

Around 3 a.m. the parties had ended and most of the crew retired to their rooms for the night. The only ones still awake were the captain, BC, Meia and of course Mobius who had remained in his favorite corner of the cafeteria with a single cup of coffee in front of him.

Hibiki had finally woken up and upon realizing that he had missed everything yelled as he slowly dragged his feet all the way back to the brig, "Life's no fair" he moaned "How could I sleep through the entire feast?" He then looked at the box Dita left near him and looked around before he opened it.

Once the lid was pulled back, the box shot out a small plush, UFO doll that flew small circles in the air, and a recording of Dita's voice repeatedly saying "Merry Christmas" played until the doll stopped and made a popping sound before turning into a plush doll of Hibiki riding a sleigh with two reindeers drawing it.

"What is this?" he wondered quietly before a small warm smile appeared on his face, "You're silly".

On the bridge, BC was still looking at the dispersed tail of the comet as it continued to snow while the Nirvana passed by it.

"It looks like we've lived to see another year" the captain's voice said as the old pirate approached her sub-ordinate "We may have had our ups and downs, but its all for the best because back on Mejere we never would have seen something like this".

The captain then looked up at the comet herself, "It's beautiful isn't it? It's almost as if it were a Christmas tree stuck in the middle of space".

"Good you're here" they heard a voice say from below them.

BC and the captain approached the railing and looked down to see Mobius standing just a few feet from Meia.

The ISAF pilot slowly approached Meia and handed her a small, square box that usually held a ring.

"I originally got it for my mother, her birthday was the week after Claire's, but because of what…Argh, just open it already" he growled.

Meia slowly opened the ring box and her eyes widened when she saw a beautiful silver lace necklace with a tear drop shaped crystal on it.

"Its been treated with a special chemical that'll keep it from ever losing its shine" Mobius told her, "It'll stay like forever without needing to be cleaned".

"Thank you" Meia muttered quietly, her face was turning red again as was Mobius'.

"Argh, just take the damn thing already" Mobius said trying to act like he didn't care, "Get some sleep cause, training begins at 10…I hate Christmas" he said walking away.

Meia heard his words, but could tell he wasn't being serious. After Mobius left, Meia placed the necklace around her neck.

Completely unaware that the captain and BC were watching them, Meia had left the garden as well to return to her room.

After Meia had left as well, Magno smiled at BC "You see now BC, even those two have come a long way since we started. Thanks to Mobius, Meia has come out of her shell and it looks like Mobius is finally beginning to feel at home with the rest of us. This is truly a special time of the year…when people become closer and more open with one another".

BC didn't answer; she merely smiled as her captain continued.

Meia returned to her room once again that night, finally ready to sleep. She removed the necklace Mobius gave her and gently set it on the night stand next to her bedroom window and changed into a robe to sleep in before she finally laid down and closed her eyes.

In the conference room, Mobius was busy analyzing the current dread formations Meia had planned and the best ways to integrate his own team along with the formation.

"So if I set us here" he muttered while moving his eyes to the side of the formation, "That would allow the dreads to cover the left side and my team will be able to move freely from the right and flank the enemy, we could even perform a direct strike to force a break in the enemy's formation…hmm".

The pilot lifted a mug of coffee to his lips and took a long sip before he set it down, "Meia is progressing better than the others, but she's letting her feelings toward me get in the way…" the pilot stopped for a moment.

"Her and Hibiki both look up to me, they see me a mentor and a challenge…They want to become as good as me and even surpass me…In the end it's going to push them too far, but can I really tell them not to pursue a goal like that? Can I really tell them to stop trying to push their limits to become better?"

The pilot took another sip of his coffee while he stared at the projector screen, showing the current formation he was reviewing.

"Hibiki's still arrogant and reckless, but he's had some good ideas so far, but he's still not ready to face the Yellows on his own. Leona is showing promise, but her hot headed attitude is going to get her shot down…Yukiko and Laura have no trouble following orders and they have enough confidence in themselves to fly, but their too afraid to engage the Yellows on their own just yet…Meia however…She's not just trying to prove she can be as good as me, but she keeps letting how she feels about me get in the way. If it were to ever come down to where she felt she needed to protect me…"

Mobius shook his head, "No, that will never happen. I'm the greatest pilot that's ever lived and ever will be. I can't get shot down". Mobius lowered his head, "Even so…if she really has such strong feelings toward me then it could cloud her judgement. I can't really confront her on it so for now I guess I'll have to keep observing her…I just hope I'm wrong about it. I don't want to hurt her, but…"

Mobius picked up the mug one last time and finished what was left in it before setting it down and turning off the projector screen, "I'm going to bed. I'll figure the rest out another time".

Returning to his room, Mobius set the box he found on the floor under his cot and immediately fell asleep after he laid down.

His dreams were silent, but words weren't needed. He could tell what was being said.

_Meia had approached him and with a shy expression spoke to him._

_Mobius was silent for a few minutes before turning away and replying. He apologized to her as he hid his face and clenched fists before he walked away, leaving Meia alone, crying._

_He hated himself for what he had done…for the pain he caused her, but he told himself there was still something else to do before such things could be discussed._

* * *

><p><strong>AN.** Well there's chapter 12. 14 months and 12 chapters later and we finally reach the Christmas chapter.

I hope everyone is ready for the next chapter because things are going to get real interesting before Stage 1 is finished.

Several relationships will be tested and we'll get to see the strike team Mobius 1 is putting together in action, so tune in next time.


	13. The Return

"Leona! Tighten up, you're drifting from too far from the rest of us" Mobius ordered over the radios.

Yet another day and another battle, the enemy formation consisted of about four dozen cube types, five spiked sea urchins and seven Yellows.

The dread teams had already taken a few losses, but so far all of the damaged craft managed to return safely, but thanks to the new strike team led by Mobius 1 the enemy had taken a heavy blow to their forces, easily tilting the scales in favor of the Nirvana's crew.

"This is Yukiko! I've got two Yellows on my 6' and I can't shake them!"

"Mobius 1, copy. I'm on my way to clear your 6' o clock".

Mobius flew past Yukiko's dread and turned his raptor upside down as he gained a lock on the two Yellows chasing her down. "Mobius 1, fox two!"

The two missiles fired by Mobius sped toward their targets, but the Yellows evaded at last second and would've hit Yukiko's dread if she wasn't trained well enough to make sharp evades.

Yukiko sighed in relief, "A little too close Mobius, but thanks".

"Don't mention it" Mobius replied, "Stay focused we've still got enemies to deal with".

"Roger".

"Laura, Leona what's your situation?" Mobius asked.

"This is Laura; I've taken a hit, but nothing too bad. I'm still combat capable".

"Hibiki, Dita!" Mobius called out "The enemy is breaking formation, if you can combine and you the Vandread's cannons to fire directly at their center we can separate them. They'll be easier to deal with".

Hibiki agreed, "Good idea, hey crazy UFO girl let's go!"

Dita cheered, "Alright let's do it Mr. Alien!"

The two combined into Vandread Dita, the Vandread immediately charged its cannons and fired them right at the center of the enemy formation, destroying many of them and causing the rest to break away from the blast zone, leaving them open for swarm attacks.

"Mobius behind you!" Meia yelled.

Mobius' head snapped down at his radar, showing a cube type approaching from the front and a Yellow from his 6'.

Forcefully pulling back on his flight stick, Mobius pulled his raptor into an upward loop just as the Yellow and cube type fired their weapons. The Yellow's missile destroyed the cube type while the cube type's laser damaged the Yellow's wing, leaving it wide open for Leona to finish it off.

"Hah!" the pilot cheered "How do you like that!"

"Nice kill Leona!" Yukiko cheered.

"Great job sis you got one!" Laura said.

"I told you these things weren't anything special" Leona yelled proudly "We didn't need any special training to take these things".

"Leona don't get cocky!" Mobius ordered, "Regroup with Laura and continue the assault".

Leona glared at Mobius' fighter "Does it make you mad that you're no longer the only one who can take on the Yellows? I knew you were all talk".

Yukiko yelled, "Leona watch out! Your 3' o clock!"

Leona gasped as a Yellow swopped in from her 3' o clock and fired a missile at her. The dread pilot froze as she watched the missile approach her, thankfully Mobius flew between them causing the missile's heat seeking program to confuse its targets as it curved to chase him instead.

After the missile went after Mobius, Meia attacked the Yellow from behind, making her dread spin while firing a wave of lasers that trapped the enemy, destroying it.

"Wow Meia that was amazing!" Dita said in amazement.

Meia smirked, "Heh, no problem, but we can share praise later, right now we need to finish this battle".

"Mobius to bride team, give me a count on the remaining Yellows".

"One moment, confirming" Belvedere replied. "Exactly 5 Yellows remain".

"Make that 4" Yukiko told her, "Laura and I just shot down another one".

The bridge bunnies were amazed, the Yellows the most dangerous enemy they had encountered so far were being brought down one after another.

"It looks like having Mobius train a special team was a good idea after all" the captain smiled.

BC agreed, "It sure looks like it".

"Commander!" Ezra cried, "I'm picking up something on the long range radar, it looks like a mission station with a small enemy formation consisting of another 5 Yellows".

"Another 5?" BC repeated in shock, "Are they on an intercept course?"

Ezra shook her head, "No ma'am it looks like they're attacking the station".

"Attacking the station?" BC wondered "Get a clearer picture on radar now" she ordered.

BC informed the pilots fighting outside about the other enemy formation and the mission station.

"Is it just me" Mobius began before shooting down three cube types and a Yellow "Or is it everytime we find one of those things it brings bad news with it?"

"Quit whining" Meia told him, "We've almost finished off the enemy, just keep pressing the attack for now".

Mobius gave Meia's dread a mocking salute, "Oui mon captain!"

"There he goes being a smartass again" Leona growled after splashing another two cube types.

Mobius didn't pay any attention to Leona's comment, he and Meia split from the rest of the dreads to finish off the last three Yellows, causing the remaining enemies to retreat, but a quick blast from Vandread Dita destroyed them all in one go.

"Picture clear!" Aramone announced, "All enemies have been destroyed".

BC ordered all the pilots to return immediately to rearm before they approached the mission station, but Celtic and Ezra reported something odd.

"Commander!" Ezra called, "The enemy formation around the mission station has been destroyed. No traces of them anywhere".

"What?" BC gasped.

Celtic also had an announcement, "Commander, I'm picking up a distress signal from the mission station".

BC immediately ordered, "Patch it through at once".

Celtic activated the bridge's PA system to broadcast the station's distress signal.

Most of the signal was disrupted by static, but what did come through was clear enough that the people on board were in trouble.

"Repeat,…ow on supplies…can't…out much longer…please…anyone out there…need help…please…repeat…ow on supplies…can't".

Celtic cut off the transmission, "It sounds like it's on a loop, should we still investigate?"

Ezra spoke up, "Scans do detect some minor thermal images on board the station, and some of the station's system appear to still be active which means there may still be someone alive on board".

"What do you think captain?" BC asked turning to face Magno.

Magno closed her eyes, "Our enemy was attacking the station and was destroyed, there's something worth finding on that station and if there's someone alive down there they may have answers for us…take us in".

BC announced the plan over the ship's PA system, at the same time ordering, Meia, Gascogne, Barnette and Mobius to meet her in the auxiliary hangar.

After a short break, Mobius entered the auxiliary hangar meeting the others BC ordered to gather.

"Why am I here?" Mobius asked in a tired tone as he took the last sip of his coffee and dropped the paper cup in the trashcan.

BC didn't look at him while she checked the shuttle they would be taking, "We're going to investigate the mission station. The distress signal we intercepted was on a loop, but since the enemy attacking it was destroyed it's highly possible that there are still people alive on it".

"Good enough for me" Mobius muttered before stepping on the shuttle with everyone else and sitting in the furthest seat next to Meia.

The shuttle took off from the ship and landed at the mission station's open docking bay.

The docking bay's hull was damaged so the team inside the shuttle had to change into hazard suits before leaving the shuttle.

Mobius quickly slid on the hazard suit and kept his eyes closed as he faced the wall while the women changed. Once everyone was ready they exited the shuttle and were glad to see the station's artificial gravity was still active to some degree.

"Alright, everyone stay together and move quickly" BC ordered.

"I call point" Mobius said as he moved over to the door and opened it.

After the docking bay's doors opened, Mobius moved forward without waiting for BC's order and looked down both of the corridors before turning to his right, "Shall we go?"

"What do you think happened here?" Barnette asked.

"Whatever it was, it wasn't pretty" Gascogne answered.

Once the women were inside the corridor, Mobius closed the docking bay doors behind them, "I say we keep these things on for now, no point in taking an unnecessary risk".

BC nodded, "I agree. Let's head to the central chamber and see what we can find".

"What the…" Meia muttered, "Mobius, Buzam".

Meia motioned them over to a large observation window that allowed them to look into one of the docking bays. Inside the one adjacent to their landing zone, was a Su-37 Terminator…a Yellow.

"A Yellow?" BC wondered, "What's it doing here. Did someone salvage it?"

Mobius continued ahead, "At this point it doesn't really matter, let's keep moving".

Mobius had a point; until they knew what the situation was staying in one place wasn't a smart idea. They kept moving down the corridor using their knowledge of the last station they visited to make their way through to the central chamber.

Finally arriving in the central chamber, BC ordered everyone to split up and start searching, but to always remain within visual distance except Mobius; she wanted him to continue down the hall to the control room to see what he could find.

Mobius scoffed, "Figures you all get to stay together and safe, but I get to go off on my own down the dark tunnel".

"Are you scared?" Meia asked him with a teasing smile.

Mobius shook his head, "No, just complaining…Could go for some coffee right now".

Mobius left, leaving the women behind to perform their search. The ISAF pilot slowly crept through the hallway toward the control room, his hand loosely held over the handle to his M9 handgun against his thigh.

"I don't like this place" he muttered quietly.

Approaching the control room, Mobius heard someone talking from inside and drew his pistol before quietly opening the door and bolting through.

After a quick scan of the room, Mobius was relieved to see he was alone and that the voice was a pre programmed distress call set to continue looping.

"We're low on supplies and can't hold out much longer, please anyone out there we need help. I repeat. We're low on supplies and can't hold out much longer, please anyone out there we need help. I repeat".

Mobius shut off the distress signal, "Low on supplies…This place is completely deserted, did they all leave or did the harvest get to them?" the pilot closed his eyes and sighed, "Either way it doesn't matter, can't help them now".

Sliding his gun back into its holster, Mobius looked through the window of the control room into the central chamber before contacting BC.

"BC, the control room is empty, but I did find something you're going to want to hear".

"What is it?" BC asked him.

Mobius answered, "Several reports about some kind of hostile machines that would show up and attack the station at random".

"The harvest?" BC guessed.

"Looks that way" Mobius told her, "The first reports were of some minor damage the station sustained, after that it seems the harvest would just grab a few people and make a quick retreat, but each time they came back they would take more".

"How long ago was the last report?" BC asked him.

Mobius quickly sifted through the report papers on the desk, "Let's see. Most recent entry I can find was over a month ago".

"You're saying this place has been like this for over a month?" Gascogne asked, "So if this place has been empty this entire time, then why was the enemy attacking it?"

"Maybe there's someone on board" Barnette concluded, "At least one person, what about that Yellow we saw in the docking bay?"

"It's definitely now like Yellows we've run into so far" BC noted.

"That's because that Yellow was just a regular fighter jet" Mobius told her, "The others we've fought were Terminators, but self piloting. I'm willing to bet that someone salvaged that one and is using it for transportation".

"Captain did you get all of that?" BC asked.

Back on the Nirvana, the captain responded, "I heard everything BC. If that station's deserted then there's no need to hang around it any longer. Just get back here and I'll send another team to reclaim the Yellow in the docking bay. We may be able to use it in some way or another".

"Roger captain, we're doubling back to return then" BC looked up at the control room window, "Mobius we're leaving let's go".

Mobius didn't answer.

"Mobius?" BC asked before nodding to Barnette and Gascogne to go check on him.

"What's wrong BC?" the captain asked from the bridge.

"Mobius isn't responding we might not be alone here after all".

"Sorry, I'm fine" Mobius finally said to which everyone sighed, "Sorry I found another report and it caught my attention".

"What's it say?" BC asked him.

"It says that the people here were close to figuring out where the harvest came from. Everybody on the station, swallowed a long range tracking device in case they were taken, but the devices always cut off, they assumed they were either out of range or the enemy somehow found out about them".

"Anyway I'm ready to go, meet you back in the central chamber".

Mobius left the control room and returned to the rest of the group before they made their way back to the docking bay.

Passing by the bay, where the Yellow was, Mobius peered through the window one last time and thought he saw someone.

"Hold on!" he silently yelled.

"What is it?" BC asked him.

"I thought I saw someone".

Everyone stayed quiet for a few minutes, until Mobius sighed and shook his head, "Screw it, let's just get out of here. Eyes are playing tricks on me".

After they all returned to the docking bay and their shuttle, Ezra's voice spoke to them, "I'm detecting a large enemy formation on radar and they're on an intercept course for the Nirvana".

"BC GET BACK HERE!" the captain yelled.

"Roger" BC replied once everyone was strapped in.

The shuttle quickly took off from the docking bay and returned to the Nirvana just in time. Once back on the ship, the ramp dropped and everyone piled out to prepare for the battle.

Making a hard sprint for the hangar, Mobius immediately climbed back into his F-22 and activated its engines, "This is Mobius 1 I'm taking off".

After getting the ok to scramble, the engines to the fighter roared to life before it shot out of the hangar and into space. Mobius immediately took control of the battle, shooting down two enemies before his take off was fully complete.

"Mobius 1, splash two targets, give me a count on any and all Yellows detected".

"One moment" Belvedere answered, "Approximately 12 Yellows are present in the formation".

"12!" Barnette yelled, "We've never faced that many at once!"

"Alright then" Mobius said, "Eclipse team on me" he ordered as he flew out to the right of the dread formations.

Laura, Leona and Yukiko followed Mobius away from the rest of the dread teams and set themselves in formation on his wings.

"Waiting for your orders Mobius" Laura answered.

"You've all been trained well; I know you can do this. Green light to engage, go get 'em".

Mobius received an enthusiastic roger from all three of them, even Leona surprisingly, but there wasn't time to think about something so trivial, there was a ship to protect.

The special team Mobius had trained separated from one another and began engaging the Yellows, slowly shooting them down one after another.

The tide of battle was an immediate shift. The battle hadn't even been going on for more than 5 minutes and already only 7 Yellows remained with almost half of the harvest formation wiped out.

"It seems we've gained an early upper hand" BC noted from the bridge.

Magno closed her eyes, "Let us just hope it stays that way".

"Oh no!" Ezra cried.

"Ezra what is it?" BC yelled.

"I've detected another 6 Yellows approaching from the mission station".

"More of them?" BC replied in a worried tone.

"Just leave them to us" Mobius' voice said, "Don't worry, they're ready. I believe in them, don't you?"

The captain smiled, "Very well then young man, you and the Eclipse team are free to engage them".

"Yeah I was going to do that anyway" Mobius scoffed before ordering his team to follow him.

Laura, Leona and Yukiko set themselves in formation with Mobius as they left to intercept the incoming Yellows with the remaining ones from the first formation pursuing them.

"Don't break formation, just stay calm" Mobius told them.

"Incoming enemies are almost within range" Yukiko announced as they drew closer to the enemy, but then the unexpected happened.

Two of incoming enemy Yellows were shot down, something had hit them from behind and destroyed them.

"Confirmed kill on two Yellows" Aramone announced.

"What just happened!?" Leona yelled, "None of us shot 'em?"

Laura checked her radar, "Those missiles came from behind them, but the only thing behind them is…"

The only other thing out there was another Yellow behind the oncoming ones.

"Did it just shoot down its allies?" BC asked.

Before anyone else could figure out what was going on they had their answer. The trailing Yellow fired another missile at one of the Yellows, causing them to break formation before it turned to pursue it.

"What the hell is going on?" Leona yelled.

"It doesn't matter, we capitalize on this" Mobius told her, "Eclipse team split up and engage the Yellows, but leave that one alone, bridge team requesting new IFF data, signal that Yellow as a temporary ally until the battle is over. I don't want it caught in the cross fire".

"Roger" Aramone replied, "Standby".

The battle continued, while the dread teams were dealing with the harvest, the Eclipse team separated from the battle to deal with the Yellows along side an unexpected ally.

On the bridge BC turned to Celtic, "Cel see if you can open a channel to that Yellow".

"R…roger" Celtic stuttered, still in shock from the help they were getting.

Everyone from the bridge and those across the ship who had access to view screens were watching the battle, whoever was flying the friendly Yellow was no rookie pilot, in fact the maneuvers the pilot was performing were unreal.

The friendly Yellow shot down another enemy before sharply evading a missile fired from it's 6' at last second, but Mobius shot down the pursuer before flying past the allied Yellow, that's when they heard a voice over the radio.

"A ribbon?" a male voice said, "It can't be…"

"Cel, can you make contact with that pilot?" BC asked.

Celtic lowered her head, "I'm sorry commander, but I can only tap into the pilot's radio".

The battle continued on there were now only 2 enemy Yellows remaining, and the harvest formation had been dealt with.

The remaining Yellows attempted to retreat, but a full assault by the Eclipse team and the allied Yellow destroyed them.

With the battle over everyone returned to the ship, including Mobius and the Yellow that assisted them.

The Yellow landed in the hangar and a large group of the crew had gathered to see who it was piloting it.

Standing in the very front was the captain with BC and Gascogne on either side and next to them was Hibiki and Dita with Meia waiting next to her dread and Barnette and Jura next to Dita.

Laura and Yukiko were worried, but excited to see who it was; Leona however was practically seething in anger. She heard a man's voice on the radio and even though he helped them she didn't like the idea of another man on the ship.

Mobius remained in his raptor while he watched the Terminator's canopy open and the pilot climb out.

The pilot slowly approached the captain and BC before stopping a few feet away from them.

He stood around 6'3, that's all they could tell as the pilot reached up to take off his helmet.

The pilot had pale blonde hair and brown eyes, as he introduced himself he spoke in a strong voice, but it sounded friendly and welcoming, "My name is Jax Hamilton, thank you for your assistance" he said saluting them.

* * *

><p><strong>AN.** AND CHAPTER 13 BOOM!

Another original chapter added here to not only introduce the first flight of the special team Mobius had been training, The Eclipse squadron, but also of a mysterious new pilot flying a Su-37 with the Yellow squadron paint scheme and emblem...curious.

Will this man prove to be an ally or an enemy? Find out next time!


	14. New Days

"May name is Jax Hamilton. Thank you for your assistance" the man said saluting the captain in front of him.

"Well our visitor is friendly at least" the captain replied, "It's a pleasure young one, I am the captain of this ship, forgive me for getting straight to business, but I have some questions for you".

The pilot dropped his salute and looked over his shoulder at the fighter he was piloting, "It's about my fighter right?"

"It is" the captain confirmed, "You're a logical one it seems. You can understand my caution after all we have been fighting these Yellows for quiet some time now and here we find someone actually flying one of them".

The captain waited for the man who called himself Jax to return his eyes to her, "So I must ask you, who are you exactly?"

"Yellow 13" Mobius' voice answered catching everyone's attention as he dropped down from his fighter and casually walked over to them.

"The top ace in the Erusian Air Force and leader of the infamous and feared Yellow squadron…" Mobius stopped in front of the pilot with less than a foot of space between them, "It seems you survived Farbanti".

"So it is you" the pilot replied, "The ribbon fighter, the one pilot who single handedly destroyed Stonehenge and shot down a Yellow in the same day…the one whose exploits earned him the nickname The Grim Reaper by his enemies".

Mobius kept an expressionless face as he answered, "The one and only, but my name is Mobius".

"This is a conversation we can continue elsewhere" Magno said before looking to BC, "BC escort this man to the conference room, I'd like to speak with him, everyone else back to work".

BC stepped forward and sized up Yellow 13 before smiling almost seductively, "You'll come with me won't you?"

"Don't really have much choice" 13 replied before following BC out of the hangar.

Mobius looked over to Meia and motioned for her to follow him as he also headed for the conference room.

Arriving in the conference room, Mobius leaned against the wall next to the door, while Meia took her seat and the left center of the long table. BC as always stood behind the captain at the furthest chair.

"Now then" the captain began after Yellow 13 took his seat right in front of Mobius, "Tell me about yourself, more importantly how you got here. If you haven't been told by anyone, human kind abandoned Earth over 100 years ago".

13 lowered his head for a second, "That long huh?" He looked back up, "Like I said my name is Jax Hamilton and as he said I'm known as Yellow 13, I was the first pilot selected to form the most highly trained squadron the world has ever seen, the squadron that eventually became known as Yellow squadron".

13 continued a brief introduction of his past, feeling Mobius' eyes on him the entire time. Finally 13 began recalling the siege of Farbanti and how he was shot down.

"We arrived too late, the city was already lost. We received orders to attack the advancing enemy units and force them back, but the battle was long over…I had another goal in mind".

"Since the city was lost I knew he had to be there" 13 continued, the he obviously referring to Mobius, "I didn't have to look for him, I knew once we were detected they would send him to us. I wanted to see how good he was, to see which of us was better".

"You were looking for a worthy opponent, and you found one" Mobius said, finishing his thoughts.

13 actually smiled and nodded, "I watched as one by one he shot down my wingmen without taking a single hit, and eventually I fell as well. I can still see that dogfight in my mind, I evaded and evaded, but the second I would turn to counter attack he was right behind me again. I could see why the military began calling him the Grim Reaper after that, he just wouldn't let up…For a while there it didn't even feel like I was fighting a human being anymore…and of course in the end I was the one who was shot down…I never even grazed his fighter".

13 chuckled, "Throughout my career, ever since I was considered the top ace. I was waiting for a worthy opponent. Instead…"

Mobius cut him off, "Instead you had your ass handed to you, can we please skip memory lane for now and get to the part where you tell us how you got thrown into the future".

13's smile faded, "I bailed out, but my chute wouldn't open, luckily I landed in the ocean and was able to swim to shore from there. I was outside the city lines and didn't see a point to reentering the city, the battle was lost and my career as a fighter pilot with it. So I turned around and started walking. A few months later I heard the Megalith, a super weapon Erusea was developing had been found and destroyed" he paused and turned to look at Mobius, "You're doing I presume".

Mobius' expression changed to a blank, 'I got nothing' look as he nodded his head to the side in confirmation.

13 turned back around, "With Megalith destroyed, the countries that made up ISAF rejoiced. I was at sea at the time; I had taken up a job as a commercial fisherman when the news reached my radio. My crew had landed a big haul and we were returning to shore when an asteroid fell to the ocean not far from us".

"_An asteroid?"_ Mobius thought before a surge of pain hit his forehead. Quickly raising his hand up to his forehead, Mobius began slowly massaging his temple, right above his eyes, something Meia noticed.

13 continued, "The impact caused a massive wave that capsized our ship, next thing I know is I was engulfed by an incredibly blinding light and then I was on that station…That was about two weeks ago".

"You've been on that station for two weeks?" BC asked, "So everyone was already gone when you arrived?"

13 shook his head sadly, "I'm afraid not. There were still two survivors there when I appeared. A woman and her daughter, they told me what had happened before I appeared. I didn't believe it at first, but a few days later those machines appeared".

13 paused for a brief moment to exhale, "They told me there was a ship in the docking bay, but it was too small for more than two people and no one on the station knew how to fly it. They said it had been since people started living on it".

"I was surprised to see it was a Su-37, with the Yellow squadron paint scheme, but I didn't have time to figure out how it got there. I immediately took off to defend the station, but there were too many for me to fight off myself. The enemy got inside and took both of them. I tried to save them, but I failed, the fighter was in too poor shape. By the time I defeated those things, both of them were long gone and I have no idea which way they went…that's everything. I started repairing the fighter with what I could get my hands on until you all showed up".

The room was silent, this man assuming what he told them was true, fought as best he could to save a woman and her daughter, but failed in the end…Living alone with that fact for two weeks.

Magno closed her eyes, "I'm sorry that you weren't able to save them, but there's nothing that can be done for them now. This enemy you faced is far more dangerous than anything you've faced before".

Mobius gave a quiet, mocking laugh "Hehe no its nooooooot".

Magno paid no attention to Mobius as she began explaining to Yellow 13 what their enemy's true intention was…a revelation that disgusted him.

"So that's what they were after them for" he said finally after a long silence. "So what happens now?" he asked the captain, "I've told you everything. What do you plan to do with me?"

Magno thought for a moment, "That depends on a number of things. Will you and Mobius be able to leave your past as your past and get along while you're on my ship?"

Mobius spoke up, "He was enemy back then. He's not now, that's all there is to it".

13 also agreed, "I hold nothing against him".

Magno trusted their words, "You'll be given a room in the brig along with the rest of the men on the ship. The cell there will server as your quarters until we return to Mejere and warn them about the harvest operation".

"I can live with that" 13 admitted.

"Then it's settled" Magno said, "Mobius and Meia will show you to the brig, I'll also have them answer any questions you may have to help you understand things a little better. Oh, there's one more thing I nearly forgot to mention".

"Yes?" 13 asked.

Magno smiled at him almost evilly, "I trust that during a battle you'll be able to follow orders?"

13 nodded, "It's been a long time since I've been under someone else's orders, but it shouldn't be a problem".

"Very well then" the aged pirate leader smiled, "I hope you acclimate to our ship nicely".

BC and the captain left, leaving Yellow 13 alone with Mobius and Meia.

13 got up and faced Mobius, "How old are you?" he asked bluntly.

"23" Mobius replied "Does that have any significant meaning to anything?"

13 lowered his head and smiled slightly, "Beaten by someone so young".

He looked back at Mobius, "Well lead the way then" he said casually.

Mobius and Meia began leading 13 toward the brig, giving him a quick description of the situation along with the segregation of the genders, something 13 didn't question surprisingly.

"Hibiki, Bart and Duelo came from Tarak; Mobius obviously came from Earth along with you. The rest of the crew is from Mejere" Meia explained.

Mobius picked up from there, "While we're all getting along there's still a good amount of tension between the men and women, except for me mainly because I just don't care…but all the same don't cause trouble and watch what you say to female crew members not all of them are as friendly as Meia".

Mobius couldn't help, but smirk when he recalled how Meia treated him and the other men when he first arrived on the Nirvana.

Stepping off the elevator, the two pilots escorted Yellow 13 to the end of the brig and to the last cell that would serve as his room.

Meia leaned against the doorway, "It's pretty small, but it doesn't seem like you have a lot of things with you so that shouldn't be a problem".

"There are a lot of old storage closets on the ship with a lot of old clothes in them" Mobius mentioned, I'm sure there's something that'll fit you".

Mobius turned around and entered his cell, "While you're here" he said before returning to the two of them "I found this in one of said storage closets. You might find them interesting".

Mobius handed him the small box he found with the Yellow squadron emblem.

Mobius turned to leave the brig, "If you have questions I'm usually in the cafeteria or hangar".

After Mobius left, 13 said aloud "I'm surprised he's being so casual considering that we were enemies back then".

"Like the captain said" Meia began "As long as the two of you leave your past in your past then things will be fine…if not, we'll lock you up and leave you on the next planet we find".

Meia left as well leaving 13 with an interesting first impression of both her and Mobius. He returned to his room and opened the small box Mobius handed him and once he noticed what was inside, his eyes widened.

A small fur lined photo album with the Yellow squadron emblem stitched into the cover and on the back was a phrase reading "From Yellow 4. Memories are one of the dearest things anyone can have; use this to keep them close".

Yellow 13, slowly ran his fingers over the words embedded into the back cover of the photo album, "Amanda…" he muttered before slowly opening the album.

Seeing each of the pictures in the album brought back found memories of days long gone, days and times he knew he could never return to. 13 could feel a single tear run down the side of his face as he closed the photo album and set it to the side. He then reached for the first letter in the box and began reading.

A while later, he had finished reading the last letter the boy he befriended wrote. The words written to Mobius from a child who wanted to express his gratitude for giving 13 the challenge he had always wanted and also expressing that even though 13 lost, the boy knew that 13 held no anger toward Mobius for defeating him. In fact, the boy felt that in a way, that's how 13 wanted it to end.

13 couldn't read anymore, there were too many memories buried there in those pictures and letters. He set them all to the side and got up before noticing the dusty old harmonica beside a lone guitar pick.

13 got to his feet and walked out of the cell and the brig.

Entering the elevator, he pressed a random button and silently waited for the elevator to take him wherever. Once the doors opened again he stepped off and kept walking paying no attention to the gossip of the women of the ship. They were all whispering about him being a Yellow pilot even though he helped them.

Never been one to bother with such small trivialities, 13 continued on before finding himself in the cafeteria.

Seeing Mobius alone in the furthest corner, he walked over to him.

"Need something?" Mobius asked without looking up.

13 sat across from him; "Well" he said calmly, "I think we should chat".

"Is there anything worth talking about?" Mobius asked.

"Well" 13 began, "I can thank you for the box".

"How about the things inside it" Mobius replied, "A box is a strange thing to thank someone for".

"Well, thanks anyway" 13 said "Seeing those pictures…brought back some good memories. And the kid was right…fighting you did make me happy. I knew there was a good chance I was going to lose that battle, but when I watched you shoot down my wingmen…I realized it was going to be a challenging battle, but I wanted nothing more then to be pushed to my limits…" 13 sighed "Never mind I'm no good at these things. Anyway thanks".

"For shooting you down and almost killing you?" Mobius asked.

13 smirked uncomfortably, "Pretty much. Anyway I'll see you around I guess" he said before getting up and turning to leave.

When 13 started walking away, Mobius said, "You know having you on our side would greatly increase our chances". 13 stopped and looked over his shoulder, "They all look to me to carry them through this and I'll do anything to help them survive as long as possible and as much as I hate it I'm only one person. I won't be able to protect everyone forever. Most of the crew believes in me, but there's still a few who don't trust me. One of them is on my team".

Yellow 13 sat back down as Mobius continued.

"She's going to keep letting her pride and views get in her way, she's a skilled pilot and she knows it, but the worst part is I know that one of these days she's most likely going to sustain heavy damage and I won't be able to protect her and the rest of the pilots from the enemy".

Mobius finally looked up from the tarot card in front of him and met 13's eyes "I'm asking you to help me fight, I'm not sure what your motivation was when you became a pilot, but mine was pure revenge. I hunted down and brutally murdered several members of the Erusian army that occupied my hometown before the ISAF forces liberated the town. I became a pilot because your Air Force took my life away from me, my family and friends were all killed so I took to the skies to make them regret".

Mobius closed his eyes and covered the tarot card on the table with his hand, "But that's all long past and I may never get over the loss of my family and friends I have no problem leaving my hatred for Erusea behind me. If it helps you make a decision, I have nothing against you and I'll gladly welcome your help because I know we're going to need it eventually".

Mobius slowly shook his head and got up, "Anyway I'm going to go take a nap, see you around Captain".

Mobius left again leaving 13 to himself to think about what his former enemy told him. It didn't take long for 13 to make his decision. Standing up, 13 left the cafeteria and returned to the elevator he used.

Pressing the button on the wall, he summoned the elevator to his level before stepping on, "It was Meia right?" he asked seeing Meia on the elevator.

Meia nodded, "That's right".

13 leaned his back against the wall, "Can you take me to the captain? I want to talk to her".

Meia agreed and escorted, Yellow 13 to the bridge. Of course after arriving at bridge level they could hear someone yelling from down the hall.

"This is where I draw the line!" a female voice yelled, "I was willing to put up with you by the captain's orders, but I refuse to have another man wondering freely on this ship least of all a Yellow pilot. You were training us to defeat the Yellows and now there's one on the ship".

Meia and 13 both peeked around the corner to see Leona pacing back and forth yelling at Mobius who had an annoyed expression.

Placing his fingers against his temple, Mobius moaned "For the love of god will you get over it! Human…pilot!" he said to Leona "Not malicious machine, not murder-bot extraordinaire and not part of harvest operation…human pilot. And while we're here I'm going to make one thing perfectly clear Leona, You're on my team and you'll follow my orders, it doesn't matter if it's during battle or down time. If I tell you to stay in formation, you stay in formation. If I tell you and throw in the word please, to bring me the maintenance reports on the team's dreads I expect you to bring them to me. And if I tell you to get used to having another man on this ship, you swallow your pride and get used to it. I'm not going to turn away a potential ally who has enough skill to keep up with the enemy regardless of what gender he is".

Mobius stopped for a second to catch his breath, "And before you say it, no I don't care that he was my enemy back during the war on Earth. I couldn't possibly care less about that, that was then and this is now. You're letting your brainwashed views of the two genders delude you into denying his skills as a pilot. Other than me, he's the only one who knows the flight patterns and formations of Yellow squadron which makes him invaluable. So I'm going to say this one last time…get over it".

Mobius turned his back to Leona, "And if he decides to help us I'll be recruiting him onto the Eclipse team as my 2nd in command, so you can answer to him as well".

Leona balled her hand into a fist and leaned down slightly as if she was ready to attack Mobius, but at last second lowered her fist and violently walked away.

"How long are you two going to keep spying on me?" Mobius asked after Leona left.

Meia shook her head, _"I don't know why I'm still surprised at that"._ She walked over to Mobius with Yellow 13 behind her, "Is everything going to be ok between the two of you?" Meia asked him.

"Me and Leona or me and him?" Mobius asked pointing at 13.

Meia growled, "You know who I meant".

"Probably not" Mobius admitted, "She really hates me and honestly I don't care. As long as she's on my team she's going to follow my orders that's all there is to it. If she doesn't well I'll ground her dread and forbid her from taking off".

Mobius looked over at 13 with a calm expression, "Have you made your decision?"

13 nodded, "I have. I want to help you fight".

Mobius nodded with a slight smile, "Then to the captain we go".

Entering the bridge, Mobius leaned against the wall next to the door while Meia led 13 to the front side of the captain's seat.

"What can I do for you young one?" Magno asked in a very welcoming tone.

Yellow 13 was immediate and adamant in his response, "I want to join you and help you fight".

No one really seemed surprised by this; BC and the captain were looking at Yellow 13 as if scanning him for any signs of deception. Meia was still watching Mobius as he leaned against the wall with his eyes closed.

"I'll accept your offer" Magno said at last, "But before I do I need to know. What is your reason for fighting?"

Yellow 13 once again answered immediately, "These machines, these…demons are carrying out something horrible that doesn't just threaten me, but others as well what's more is they're doing it with twisted versions of my pride and joy by their side. I will not allow my memories or the legacy I built for Yellow squadron be tarnished by this. I want to help put an end to it all. I owe it to my fallen comrades; they would want me to stop this".

Magno closed her eyes with a cold expression for a second…"Very well, welcome to the crew then Yellow 13".

"Thank you captain" 13 replied saluting her, "There is one request I have however".

"And what might that be?" Magno asked him.

13 gave her a small smile, "I need to repaint something onto my fighter".

Magno smiled at him and nodded to BC, who radioed the hangar teams to let them know 13 was going to need their help with his fighter.

13 saluted again, "Thank you captain".

"Nonsense" the captain told him "You're one of my crew now and I always look after those under me".

Yellow 13 left the bridge with a pleased smile on his face both Mobius and Meia following him as he stepped onto the elevator.

"I have no problem joining the team your team Mobius" 13 said turning to face him, "But second in command? I do have a bit more experience in being a squad leader".

"Great idea" Mobius said is a sincere tone before it immediately changed to a lazy sarcastic one "Except that I put in the effort and headaches into training the team, making sure they knew flight patterns and formations and I've proven I'm the better pilot…plus they trust me more than you at this point, but its mostly the I'm the better pilot part".

The elevator stopped and Mobius got off, Meia went to follow him, but 13 stopped her.

"Can I ask you something?" he asked her.

"What is it?" Meia replied looking back at him.

13 looked up at Mobius who continued to walk down the hall, "Does he hate me or something or is he always like this?"

Meia smiled with a light scoff, "He doesn't hate you; trust me he acts like that to everyone. It's just who he is".

13 stepped back with a single nod, "Good to know. Thanks".

Meia told 13 how to get to the hangar from where they were now before leaving to follow Mobius.

"Are you still stalking me?" Mobius asked almost playfully as Meia caught up to him outside the planning room.

"I wouldn't say stalking" Meia said to him.

"Obsessively shadowing, persistently following with the intention of watching everything I do…eh I'm going to stick with stalking, easier to say".

Meia looked at the floor and shook her head, "I wanted to talk to you".

"I know" Mobius replied as he opened the door to the planning room and kept the lights off once they were inside "Well talk" he said to Meia as they both faced each other in the center of the room.

Meia began "I wanted to know…if we survive all of this" Mobius quickly cut her off "When we survive this".

Meia smiled and looked down again, "When we survive this I wanted to know what you planned on doing afterward".

"That's too far into the future for me to answer" Mobius told her "Even if it was tomorrow or even a few days from now I still probably wouldn't have an answer for you".

"I see" Meia said before remembering that she had sought the captain's advice the day before.

"_Meia you seem troubled" the captain said approaching Meia who was sitting alone on the bench in the garden sector below the bridge._

"_Oh captain" Meia said before lowering her head "I just…"_

_The captain smiled and sat next to her, "Its ok child you can talk to me"._

_Meia slowly turned her head away from her captain, "Its Mobius…"_

"_Oh?" Magno replied "What about him?"_

_Meia kept looking away from the captain as she spoke, "I…I keep dreaming about him when I sleep and when I'm awake I think about him a lot…and when I'm finally near him my heart starts racing, my face becomes hot and sometimes I feel like I'm suffocating"._

"_Oh is that all?" the captain asked in what sounded like a teasing tone "that's nothing to worry about at all Meia, in fact that's something completely natural to experience when you're in love"._

"_In love?" Meia gasped almost yelled._

_Magno smiled at her with her eyes closed, "I'm going to be honest with you Meia" she said before losing her smile and opening her eyes again, "I had already noticed. A part of me was hoping you'd pursue those feelings so that you could have someone close and important to you. Having someone to love is one of the greatest joys any person can ever experience"._

"_Captain…" Meia said awkwardly "Mobius is a man"._

"_And that hasn't stopped you from hanging around him all this time" Magno replied "Even before those feelings started developing inside you, you didn't care that he was a man. You came to trust him and realized what an irreplaceable ally he is to us"._

_Meia curled her knees up a little, "That's true, but…is it even possible? For a man and woman to…"_

"_Take it from me dear" Magno smiled, "It's possible. It's been a long time since I last saw a man and woman together, but it's possible. It's actually the way things were intended to be in the first place before the two sexes separated from one another, but that's a different story"._

_Magno slowly got up and looked back at Meia, "You know. Mobius has also noticed the feelings you have for him"._

_Meia didn't know why, but that surprised her._

_Magno continued to smile at her, "You should talk to him about it, I can tell he also feels strongly about you as well" with that the captain began walking away, "You should get some sleep soon dear, it's almost morning"._

_Meia eventually returned to her room that night and sat on her bed with her back against the wall and her knees curled up to her chest with her arms wrapped around them._

_The captain's words replayed in her head, "I can tell he feels strongly about you as well"._

"_Does he really feel the same way about me?" Meia asked herself…"The captain said it was possible, but…can a man and woman really live together…"_

Meia looked at Mobius and slowly summoned all of her courage before taking a deep breathe, but the second she tried to speak the unexpected happened.

Mobius stepped over to her and hugged her tightly, "I love you Meia" he whispered "I can't ignore it, I tried to and it was tearing me apart…I…I want to stay with you".

Meia's eyes were shaking while the rest of her body was completely immobilized…a man…Mobius was embracing her and telling her that he loved her.

Meia slowly reached her arms up and returned the embrace even tighter, holding on as if the entire world around them was collapsing.

Their moment was interrupted by the ship's alarm going off signaling an enemy attack.

Meia gasped quietly as she slowly backed away from Mobius and looked at her feet in disappointment until Mobius gently grabbed her arms.

Meia looked into his eyes as he smiled at her, "They can wait a few minutes" he said to her before he gently pulled her to him and kissed her.

The kiss surprised Meia, her first reaction was to try and pull away, but she ignored her Mejerian instincts and gently wrapped her hands around Mobius' head and neck, holding him close to her until they finally separated and left to join the battle, both with a warm smile on their faces.

After launching into the battle, Mobius had noticed that Yellow 13 had helped the hangar teams repaint the giant number "13" in yellow on the tail of his fighter and smirked before contacting him.

"Can't say I ever imagined the two of us flying along side each other".

13 replied, "I have a few times. After you defeated me that day, I often day dreamed about it and here we are…You still as good as you were back then?"

Mobius smirked again as he replied, "Better".

"Alright then let's see what you've got" 13 said before the two of them flew alongside each other into the swarm of enemies easily bringing them down.

The battle was over quickly and everyone returned to the ship, the two former enemies shared a brief, but firm handshake before going they're separate ways.

Yellow 13 had returned to the brig for the night while Mobius followed Meia to her room.

"Are you sure?" Mobius asked her as they stood in front of Meia's bedroom.

Meia lowered her head, "Please…Stay with me…even if just for tonight".

Mobius gave her a small smile, "Of course I will".

Opening her door, Meia led Mobius inside and the two of them shared another embrace that lasted for a few minutes before Meia led him over to her bed. It wasn't long before both of them fell asleep, with their arms wrapped around each other.

That night, they both slept with a happy smile on their faces…the two of them had finally found something worth living and fighting for.

* * *

><p><strong>AN. **1, 2, 3. Count it, 1, 2, 3 days, 3 chapters.

Well that's chapter 14 at any rate and honestly I think I've outdone myself on this one.

Not only do we see the return of Yellow 13 and as an ally no less, but we see a new side of Mobius as he actually pleads with 13 to stay and help them and another new side when he goes off on Leona.

What's more is it seems Meia and Mobius have finally acknowledged their feelings for one another, but will their relationship be able to survive the rest of their journey?

As always, hope everyone enjoyed reading, because I'm definitely enjoying writing it.


	15. Valiant Heart

Three days ago a new crew member joined the Nirvana, his name was Jax Hamilton, but Mobius knew him as Yellow 13, the most feared ace during the Usea Continental War. He seemed to be a pretty decent guy to most of the crew, plus his casual and seemingly easy going attitude was a nice counter balance to Mobius who hadn't change, at least to everyone except Meia.

The same day Yellow 13 had joined the crew of the Nirvana, Meia had confronted Mobius alone in the planning room and she had intended to confess to Mobius that she really cared for him, but she couldn't bring herself to do it. To her surprise Mobius had done it for both of them. Meia didn't even see his arms move as he stepped over to her and embraced her in a way that locked away her awareness of the rest of the world around them.

Unfortunately the moment didn't last as the ship's alarm went off as their evil enemy attacked again. Once the alarm started ringing, Meia's instincts as a pilot and leader told her to run for the hangar, but Mobius stopped her before she could run. The ace pilot briefly gazed into her eyes before he kissed her bringing everything time around them to a stop until Mobius pulled away.

After the battle ended, Meia gave in to her feelings that night and invited Mobius into her room where both pilots stayed with each other throughout the night.

Inside a dimly lit room, a man was moaning as he opened his eyes, "What the hell?" he groaned loudly after feeling the massive amount of pain in the back of his head.

"Sergeant Tilander?" a second voice moaned in an extremely groggy voice.

"Teal?" the first man asked.

"What the hell happened?" the second man asked.

Both men grunted as an intense light shined through the room, blinding both of them momentarily before a voice spoke up, "Sorry didn't mean for it to be that bright".

The light was dimmed down a bit and the two men allowed their eyes to adjust before looking at each other.

The first man, Tilander was a Master Sergeant in the Erusian Army. The second man, Teal was a Private First Class. The two soldiers were on their way back from being relieved of guard duty at the western end of the town before they were captured.

The two soldiers were walking down a backstreet past an abandoned storage facility when they saw a young man somewhere around 19 talking to a beautiful woman a truly stunning woman to be more precise. The woman handed the young man a handkerchief before walking away with a slight smile on her face.

The young man had his back to the two soldiers as he took a quick sniff of the handkerchief and seemed to enjoy the scent of it.

The Master Sergeant walked over to him with an evil look on his face "I think you're too young for a woman of that caliber boy". The young man turned around and the soldier snatched the handkerchief from him before shoving the boy away "I think she's more in my league than yours".

The young man placed his hand against his waist and tilted his head, "Its bad enough you took over our country. Now you have to even take the slightest bit of enjoyment from us? I can't decide if you Erusians are just thugs or assholes".

"Watch your tone!" the Sergeant barked before taking his rifle and slamming the butt of the weapon against the young man's head knocking him down.

The Sergeant smirked after the young man fell back and he took a sniff of the handkerchief and immediately fell back landing on the back of his head.

Seeing his Sergeant pass out, the Private following him immediately ran over with his superior with his rifle drawn and trained on the young man.

"Sergeant?" the Private asked as he kneeled down and took one hand off his weapon to check his Sergeant's pulse.

The young man jumped forward pushing the soldier's weapon to the side and scooped the handkerchief off the ground and pressed it against the Private's mouth until he blacked out mere seconds later.

Slowly dragging both of the soldiers into a nearby storage container before sitting each of them in a chair bolted to the floor and then tightly binding both of them to the chairs, after he checked the restraints were tight enough the young man smiled as he closed the door the to the container.

"Who the hell are you?" the Sergeant asked as his eyes adjusted to the light.

The Sergeant's eyes widened with surprise when he saw who his captor was, the same young man he took the handkerchief from.

"You!" the Sergeant yelled before thrashing to get out of his restraints.

"Don't bother" the young man told him, "Those restraints will hold for hours before they even begin to loosen. You're not in any immediate danger; I just want to talk is all".

The Sergeant smirked arrogantly, "You suck at interrogating boy; you're going to have to try a lot harder before I even think of telling you anything".

"Ok" the young man said calmly as he grabbed an injection needle from a small cart next to him and turned to look at the private "Hold still" he said to the private before violently grabbing at his hair and pulling his head back while he injected the contents of the needle into the soldier's arm.

"What the hell did you just do?" the Sergeant yelled.

The young man tossed the needle to the side "I injected him with a large dose of morphine. Now it's your turn to tell me something".

"Go to hell!" the Sergeant barked.

"I just came from there" the young man replied "The devil told me he currently has room for two more" the young man then smiled with a very pleased grin "Lucky you huh?"

The young man then grabbed a small knife from the same cart and flipped it open before slowly setting the tip of the blade against the Private's right quadriceps before pushing it into the soldier's leg.

"You know, morphine is a real medical wonder, it can block out even some of the most intense pain…for a time. Eventually your friend here is going to start feeling that knife and…it's not going to be pleasant. Tell me what I want to know and I'll treat the injury, bandage him up and send you both on your way, unarmed of course".

"Fuck you!" the Sergeant yelled as he struggled against his restraints "You better hope I don't get free".

The young man shook his head and sighed, "I was hoping this would be a bit more civil" he turned around and walked around behind the Sergeant for a few seconds before coming back with a small jar of peanuts "I hear the Private here is allergic to peanuts. I wonder how long it would take for the allergy to become fatal while under the effects of morphine".

"Sergeant…" the Private groaned, still under the effects of the morphine.

The Sergeant looked at his subordinate and closed his eyes "I'm sorry Teal, but I won't reveal the secrets that keep our men safe. Sacrifice one to save many more who are innocent".

"INNOCENT!" the young man roared before pulling the knife out of the Private's leg and driving it into the side of the Sergeants upper leg.

The Sergeant yelled through closed teeth as the knife was driven into his leg.

"What do you know about the innocent?" the young man asked with an extremely violent and angry tone as he slowly started pulling the knife downward making a medium length cut in the soldier's leg. "There's nothing innocent about the monsters in your military. Countless lives were ended because of your military, INNOCENT LIVES!"

Pulling the knife out of the soldier's leg the young man slammed it back onto the cart next to him before turning back to the Private and opening the jar of peanuts "I'll let you choose Private Teal" he began "Death by allergic reaction or should I just cut you until you bleed to death?"

The Private's eyes were lit up in horror even through the morphine high he was experiencing.

"Alright then, guess I'll do both" the young man said with an evil grin as he retrieved the knife from the cart.

"Why?" the Private asked groggily "I haven't done anything…"

"Why?" the young man asked as he set the knife and jar of peanuts down and kneeled down to look the Private in his eyes "Maybe it's the unprovoked attack on my hometown. Maybe it's because your military took over and started making our lives miserable. Maybe it's because of all the innocent lives that were lost in the unprovoked bombing of my town".

The young man had an evil look in his eyes as he started yelling, "OR MAYBE ITS BECAUSE THOSE SAME BOMBS KILLED MY LITTLE SISTER!..." the young man started breathing heavily as he tried to compose himself "She was going to turn 16 the next day, the final school bell of the day hadn't even rung yet when your Air Force started bombing us…Maybe its because your military took my sister away from me. Or maybe it's all of the above why don't you choose".

The young man turned back to the Sergeant, "I'll give you one last chance. Tell me what I want to know or your last memories of Private Teal will be him slowly suffocating".

The Sergeant was clearly afraid, but he growled, still refusing to give up anything.

The young man glared at the soldier before walking over to him and taking the pistol he took from him earlier and whipping him across the face with it.

The Sergeant was breathing heavily after the vicious hit, but he merely spit on the ground without saying anything.

The young man had finally had enough; he reached down and drove his fingers into the cut he made in the Sergeant's leg gripping at the inside of the wound causing the Sergeant indescribable pain.

As the Sergeant yelled and struggled against the unbelievable pain the young man yelled at him, "Now this is your last chance. Tell me what I want to know or I'll see to it that you both suffer far worse than this!"

The Sergeant fought as hard as he could against the pain before spitting in the young man's face.

The young man twisted his hand in the Sergeant's leg before pulling it out walking to the back of the storage container again, this time coming back with a small red container of gasoline. Slowly he poured it all over the floor before forcing the Private to swallow several peanuts at once.

"No don't!" the Sergeant yelled through his pain.

"Too late!" the young man yelled as he walked back over the Sergeant and drove his hand into his leg again "You had your chance to save him and you made the decision to sacrifice him. Now his last thoughts will be of how the man he trusted allowed him to die.

"I'll talk just stop!" the Sergeant cried as the pain became too much for him.

"Oh it's far too late for that now" the young man growled "I'm done with you. I'll just move on to another target now". The young man turned around and aimed his pistol at the Private and shot him in the chest as he tightened his grip on the Sergeant's cut leg.

The Sergeant struggled harder and harder screaming against the pain, "Mobius stop!"

Mobius' eyes flew open as he shot up into a sitting position; Standing next to him was Meia struggling against his grip. He was tightly holding her by her wrist and his entire body was shaking.

After realizing what he was doing, Mobius gasped as he released Meia and slowly withdrew his hand away from her and looked away from her breathing heavily.

"I'm sorry Meia" he panted.

Meia gazed at him with a dual expression of shock and fear in her eyes as she slowly reached over to him and watched him slightly withdraw from her until she touched his shoulder and sat next to him. "What is it?" she asked him even in the dark room she could see the sweat running down his face.

Mobius didn't answer; he didn't even look at her he was trembling uncontrollably.

"Another memory?" Meia asked him.

Mobius shook his head, "One I would prefer to forget…"

"Tell me" Meia said to him, but Mobius shook his head again and tried to get up, but Meia stopped him and pulled him back down to her bed before looking into his eyes, "Talk to me" she said gently.

Mobius looked away from her and closed his eyes, "The…first two soldiers I killed…I captured them and started torturing them…I…I did inhuman things to them…I inflicted as much pain as I could think of before I killed them both".

Meia was surprised to hear it even though she saw the recording of his dream when he assaulted the Erusian base and allowed the ISAF forces to retake his hometown, the dream in which he had killed several soldier in a single night.

Mobius couldn't bring himself to look at her, "In the end I set fire to the container I held them in. I watched both of them burn from the outside, I could hear the one I left alive calling me a monster while he burned…I…I allowed my lust for revenge to turn me into a monster. I didn't just stop with him I continued to hunt down soldiers killing them".

Meia cut him off by hugging him as tight as she could, "That's all in the past now. You're not a monster. You're a great person and I love you no matter what you did in the past".

"That's just the thing Meia" Mobius said quietly as he finally looked at her "The things I did…They deserved to die, but what I did to them was just to make them suffer as much as possible…I never forgot that soldier's voice as he called me a monster for what I had done".

"You're different now" Meia told him in a pleading voice.

Mobius didn't believe her words however, once again he looked away from her "You say what I did in the past doesn't matter. It may not matter to you, but when I think about the things I've done to people…I don't deserve to have someone like you in my life Meia. And you definitely deserve someone better than me".

Mobius felt a sharp pain on the side of his face after he finished speaking, Meia had slapped him with tears in her eyes, "Stop it!" she pleaded to him "The past is the past and you can't change it". She hugged him again "You choose how your own life goes, isn't that what you told me? I'm choosing to be with the person I love, with you. I don't care about what you did in the past I just want to be with you".

Mobius slowly raised his arms and wrapped them around her before resting his head against her shoulder and leaning his head against hers, "I'm sorry Meia" he said holding back his own tears.

"Don't apologize" she told him before tightening her hold on him refusing to let go, "Just promise you'll stay with me".

Mobius released Meia and turned away from her before slowly standing up, "God himself wouldn't be able to keep me away from you" he turned back to her with a small smile of sadness and sincerity, "I'll stay with you no matter what the future throws at us".

Mobius reached over to Meia's nightstand and checked his watch resting on it, "It's already noon. Guess I should get to work huh? I'll see you later…Meia".

Meia sat at the edge of her bed as Mobius slid his shirt and jacket on before leaving her room, wondering to herself just how bad of a dream he had to have shaken him so much.

Mobius made his way to the hangar and up the stairs at the far end where the leader of the hangar teams spent her days checking maintenance reports and the like.

"Morning" Mobius said as he entered the office only to find out that no one was there "Hmm" he hummed before stepping into the filing room and retrieving the maintenance logs of Eclipse squadron, "I hate this part of the job" he muttered to himself before walking out of the hangar.

"So you're alive" 13's voice called to him as he left the office.

Mobius looked over the railing and to 13 who stood at the bottom of the stairs, "I decided to sleep in a bit today" he replied as he walked down the stairs.

"Oh I bet you did" 13 said with an amused smile, "I noticed you weren't in your room last night. You stayed with Meia again didn't you?"

"Don't see how that's any concern of yours" Mobius retorted as 13 handed him a cup of coffee.

Taking a quick sip from the cup Mobius looked around, they were the only ones in the hangar, "So where is everyone?"

13 looked over his shoulder before leaning closer to Mobius, "I think something's up. Whenever I walked by any of the women they tensed up and looked away. I swear I could feel them glaring at me after I walked by".

"Maybe there's something on your face" Mobius said sarcastically.

"I'm serious" 13 snapped back, "Something isn't right here. I've got a really bad feeling about all of this".

The hangar doors opened and Hibiki came in looking aggravated, "I'm getting really sick of all of this. She starts crying and when I ask her what's wrong she says its nothing. People don't just start crying for nothing".

"You're late" Mobius called to him.

"Stuff it!" Hibiki yelled immediately "I'm not in the mood for any of that today ya hear me?"

"Well he's pretty rattled" 13 noted before looking back at Mobius "So any of your sixth sense magic tingling or whatever going off right now?"

"Captain" Mobius said with a fake impressed tone, "You're becoming more and more like me each day".

"What can I say you have an addicting personality" 13 retorted, "What are we going to do? If something's going on with the women we should be careful".

"Nothing" Mobius told him, "If it's something Hibiki caused we let him deal with it and stay as far out of it as possible. We've got a job to do that doesn't involved worrying about him now tell me" Mobius showed 13 the maintenance logs in his hand, "You see the massive upscale in Leona's armaments usage?"

13 nodded.

"She's becoming reckless, using that much ammunition in a single battle is going to cause problems for everyone. First thing we need to do is limit the amount of ammo she's allowed to us including resupplies in the middle of battle. Yukiko and Laura's performance is increasing, but they're taking too much damage in each battle and it takes the maintenance crews longer to repair they're dreads".

"Should we send them back to the simulators then?" 13 asked him.

Mobius shook his head, "No I've actually got a better idea in mind, but I'll have to run it by the captain first".

Mobius saw the hangar doors open and Leona was walking over to them, a burning glare in her eyes and she was armed.

"Captain how good are you at hand to hand combat?" Mobius muttered in an unconcerned tone.

"I can hold my own" 13 said before looking over his shoulder "You think?"

"No" Mobius said, "But I don't take chances".

Leona stopped in front of Mobius who showed no signs of worry or intimidation neither did 13. Leona's lips parted as she prepared to say something, but a loud crash from the other side of the hangar drew their attention away.

Hibiki slipped on the floor and knocked over a large pile of crates and parts causing them to spill everywhere.

"HEY!" Mobius yelled at him angrily, "Quit screwing around and get to work!"

Leona looked over to Hibiki, "Hibiki the captain said she wanted to talk to you in the conference room. Get going".

Hibiki crawled out from under the crates, thankfully he wasn't hurt aside from a cut on the back of his hand, "I'm getting real tired of everyone thinking they can order me around" he seethed before leaving the hangar.

Once the door closed behind Hibiki, Mobius leaned against a steel crate behind him looking over the logs in his hand, "Well Leona since you're hear I guess its time to talk to you about the amount of ammunition you've been expending".

"Let's talk about this instead" Leona said as she drew her pistol and pointed it at Mobius' head, "You're coming with me, both of you".

13 slightly slid his foot back dropping into a concealed defensive stance while Mobius didn't even take his eyes of the maintenance log he was reading.

"Well" Mobius said in another mocking tone, "Look who's just been grounded".

"I'm not kidding around!" Leona barked at him.

"Neither am I" Mobius replied before smacking her hand with the maintenance log, knocking the gun away from her.

Once her weapon had been lost, Mobius grabbed Leona's wrist and placed his right hand under her shoulder and with incredible force launched her over him and several feet away.

Leona landed on her back and exhaled an intense groan of pain from the impact as she slowly rolled around to get to her feet.

Mobius began walking over to her, "Captain her weapon please" he said to 13.

Mobius stopped in front of Leona who slowly rose back to her feet, "I'm not going to lose to you" she growled before trying to attack him.

Mobius leaned to the side to avoid the hit before pushing her arm away and jabbing her in the kidney with an open palm, "You've already lost. And I've had it with your insubordination. I'm cutting my losses".

Mobius stepped forward and leaned to the side to avoid another strike from Leona after he placed his hand against her back and pushed her behind him. "Not only are you grounded, but now you're relieved of your duties as a pilot. You are forbidden to take off into any battle and your dread will be confined in the reserve bay to be used as a spare craft. From now on you work somewhere else on the ship".

"You arrogant bastard!" Leona roared as she tried to attack Mobius once more.

This time Mobius grabbed her arm without trying to evade her; with her arm held by the wrist Mobius placed his other hand on her shoulder and twisted her arm behind her back before looking down at her waist. "Neat" he said reaching to her waist.

Leona tensed when she felt his hand touching her waist.

"Leona" Mobius said in a fake 'I'm hurt' tone "You brought restraints?" he asked her still in the same voice pretending to be shocked by her betrayal "You weren't planning on arresting me were you?"

Mobius didn't allow her time to respond; he placed the restraints on both of her hands and told her to start moving.

Leona took a few steps forward before stopping, she lowered her head in defeat, "The captain never should've let any of you stay on the ship".

Mobius immediately replied with a hostile tone, "Shoulda woulda coulda. Walk!"

Leona started walking again with Mobius and 13 behind her.

"Still have a bad feeling about this captain? Mobius asked 13.

"Yeah" 13 replied, "Something really doesn't feel right. I swear it feels like someone's watching us right now".

"That's because there are cameras in the corridor" Mobius reminded him as they stopped in front of the elevator.

The elevator opened and Hibiki bolted out sprinting for the hangar, yelling for them to get out of his way.

"What do you think he did this time?" 13 asked.

"Don't know don't care" Mobius replied before gently pushing Leona onto the elevator.

The elevator doors closed behind them and the elevator rose to the bridge deck. "So what do you think made her decide to attack us?" 13 asked him.

"It could only be a few things" Mobius replied "First thought in mind would be she really hates us, but that's normal".

"Don't talk about me like I'm not here!" Leona barked, but Mobius didn't pay her any attention.

Mobius continued, "Another possibility could be that, Hibiki finally did something to piss off the entire crew…actually that's the most likely possibility".

The doors opened and Mobius placed his hand on Leona's back, gently pushing her off the elevator and toward the bridge.

The bridge doors slid open, they could see a screen showing the Vanguard flying away they could also hear BC yelling at Hibiki.

"I'm never returning to that hell hole again you hear me!" Hibiki yelled, "See ya!"

"What did he do this time?" Mobius yelled drawing everyone's attention to the doorway as he shoved Leona inside.

Seeing Leona in restraints BC asked, "What's going on here?"

"So glad you asked" Mobius replied sarcastically, "Leona here" he said grabbing Leona's shoulder and pulling her toward him so they were standing side by side, "Decided it would be a good idea to aim a gun at my head and threaten me" he paused once more to look at the aggravated and humiliated Leona hiding her face, "You can see the results".

Leona yelled at Mobius to not touch her as she violently thrashed out of his reach.

"Captain her weapon please" Mobius said looking at 13.

13 handed him Leona's gun and Mobius dismantled the pistol with one hand dropping every piece of it on the floor, "Not only have I grounded her" he said looking to Magno, "But I've also decided to revoke her relieve her of her duties as a pilot. Her dread is going to be moved to the reserve bay".

Magno closed her eyes and sighed clearly she was getting tired of whatever was going on.

"No" BC said, "For now we'll confine Leona to the bridge, but until the situation with the rest of the crew is resolved I will be taking full control of the ship and all decisions made on it".

"Fair enough" Mobius said, "Now just what is going on with the rest of the ship? Usually I wouldn't care, but since whatever 'it' is dragged me into it…It became my business as well".

Another screen appeared over the bridge showing both Dita and Meia.

"Captain please do something!" Dita cried, "We have to go find Mr. Alien before something happens to him".

Meia spoke up, "With your permission Captain I'd like to leave to go search for him".

"I'd advise against it" Mobius said, "Meia is the leader of the dread teams, she'll currently be more useful calming this annoying little uprising on the ship. If we must send someone to go search for Hibiki I say it should be Captain Hamilton instead".

"Why me?" 13 asked.

"Because I'm going to be needed here" Mobius told him, "One way or another this…whatever the hell is going on ends in the next hour".

"What do you have in mind?" Magno asked him.

"Well the most effective approach would be to order whoever started this crap to the conference room where we all sit down and talk, buuuuuuut I have a better idea. I'm going to remind that same person why we're all here together in the first place. Meia will be at my side to make sure I don't kill them instead".

"You realize this plan of yours as me walking into the lion's den with you" Meia said to him.

Mobius hid his smile from them as he left the bridge and met up with Meia outside the hangar.

"So who started all of this?" Mobius asked her.

"Barnette" Meia told him.

"That quick to sell out your allies" Mobius said sarcastically.

"To someone I trust to maintain proper levels of civility and self control" Meia replied.

"Relax" Mobius smiled, "I was only messing with you. I'll be as civil as I need to be. Actually I was planning on taking a nap while you and Barnette talked all this out".

Meia chuckled silently, "I don't know why that surprised me".

Meia quickly fell silent, she tried to hide it, but she was worried.

"He'll be fine" Mobius told her, "He'll cool off after a while and come back".

"You sound so sure of that" Meia said as they turned a corner only to be met by several crew members pointing weapons at Mobius.

"I really don't have the patience for this" Mobius sighed before Meia stepped in front of him.

"Where's Barnette?" she asked them.

"She's on the bridge speaking with the Captain, now step aside Meia. We're throwing him back in a cell where he belongs".

"Oh please do try" Mobius taunted before Meia shot him a glare. "Right I get it" Mobius said, "Back to the bridge for us".

Mobius turned around and walked away with Meia ignoring the crew member yelling and threatening him.

Re-entering the bridge, Mobius saw Barnette pointing her gun at 13's head who like him didn't show any signs of intimidation or concern.

"I don't think you understand Captain" Barnette said looking at Magno, "The men are a threat to us. They are our enemies as much as the harvest they need to be locked up until we return home".

"We're you're enemies you say?" Mobius called to her as he approached from behind her. "Its interesting you should say that".

Barnette quickly turned away from13 and aimed her gun at Mobius who was smiling arrogantly.

"Remind me who it was that saved the Nirvana single-handedly from a giant asteroid and an enemy formation…Oh that's right it was me. Now remind who it was that rescued you and Jura from a shut down elevator OH THAT'S RIGHT…me".

Mobius walked over to Barnette and stood directly in front of her, glaring into her eyes, "Now remind me which of the two of us is an officer on this ship".

Barnette glared daggers at Mobius who remained unfazed by her, "Now we're going to end this riot you've started for the good of everyone".

Barnette snapped, "This ends when you're back in a cell!" She pointed her gun at Mobius' head, but the veteran ISAF pilot grabbed hold of the gun and pushed it against his forehead.

"Well? What are you waiting for?" he asked her, "So what's it going to be?"

Barnette was still glaring at him, but Mobius could see the fear in her eyes and her hands shaking. "I'm asking you to put an end to this; if we don't stand together we all lose".

Barnette's hands were still shaking as she slowly lowered her gun; she hid her face as she walked away from them and left the bridge.

Mobius looked up to the captain and BC and smiled at them before giving a thumbs up and then leaving the bridge.

Both 13 and Meia followed after him, neither of them saw where he went, but Meia felt as though she could sense him and went to the Garden section to find him staring up at the ship's canopy and into space.

13 approached him first, "I have to say kid I'm pretty impressed by you. You're a lot different than I imagined you, but now that I've met you I have to say it's no wonder I lost to you that day".

Mobius kept his head up, but lowered his eyes, "Do you think we can win if we're fighting against each other? I just told her what would happen if she continued on".

13 smiled a bit as he also looked out into the great void above them, "You've got the makings of a great leader in you. I can tell that both Hibiki and Meia admire and look up to you a lot even the Captain and BC hold you in high regards. They both placed their hopes in you that you would end Barnette's uprising and you delivered".

13 turned away from him, "As long as you're willing to stand against the enemy I guarantee that every single one of them will stand right behind you ready to face them as well. And I'm willing to bet…that if it ever came down to it, they'd sacrifice themselves to protect you".

13 walked away and stopped next to Meia, he smiled at her as he placed his hand on her shoulder, "I hope my words got to him, but I can tell he doesn't want to talk to anyone other than you right now".

Meia looked at Yellow 13 and then to Mobius. The second she stepped toward him 13 said, "I'm not sure if you can see it and I'm not sure if he'll ever admit it, but his sole purpose is protecting you".

Meia looked back at 13 as he looked at Mobius, "I can see it in his eyes. He wants to protect you more than anything else…and by protecting this ship he's keeping your home safe, he's fully willing to die for you if the need ever arises".

"Why are you telling me this?" Meia asked him.

13 looked away from Mobius and back up to space, "I can see a little of myself in him and you remind me a lot of my closest friend…the woman he shot down after he destroyed Stonehenge. At the time I was too focused on finding a worthy opponent to see it, but she was the one I truly cared for and I never had the chance to tell her" he looked back to Meia and smiled again, "Don't let what you two have go to waste".

13 finally walked away leaving Meia with a lot of thoughts in her head and as she looked back to Mobius. For a while she stood there wondering what must be going through his mind. Finally she walked over to him.

"Do you ever get scared?" she asked him.

Mobius was silent for a few seconds before answering, "I do".

Meia turned to look at him, "How do you stay so calm all the time?"

Mobius closed his eyes, "I just refuse to allow myself to show fear. I refuse to lose any battle and I refuse to lose anything else that's important to me" he opened his eyes and looked down to Meia, "Especially you. Right now Meia you're the most important part of my life and I'm not going to let anything happen to you. To my last breath I will protect you and this ship and see to it that you all make it back to Mejere in one piece".

Meia looked away from him, "It's strange to hear you say that" she said, she sounded doubtful "You've always protected this ship and all of us since you got here. I'm not doubting you I just…" she felt a tear forming in her eye and she looked away "I feel as though you're not telling me the truth, there's something bothering you that you won't tell me about".

"Do you know the reason I act the way I do Meia?" he asked her, knowing she didn't know the answer.

Meia looked back at him and she could see the pain and fear in his eyes, something she had never seen before.

"It's because I lost everything important to me so long ago" Mobius told her, "I lost so much in an instant and even though I knew it wouldn't bring it all back I sought after revenge. I mercilessly killed so many people on the ground and in the air and I kept everyone away from me. Its all because I didn't ever want to feel that kind of pain again, the pain of losing something so important. I acted hostile and sarcastic to everyone to drive them away from me, hoping that if they never became close it wouldn't bother me if they were lost".

Mobius looked away from her and shook his head, "When I'm with you I feel as if I can forget all of it, the pain, the anger all of it. I can forget all of it and continue on with my life and I only want to continue on if I'm with you".

He placed his hands on her shoulders, "I'm fighting to end the harvest because I'm tired of fighting I'm tired of revenge. I'm ready to leave it all of it behind me and just get on with my life and I want it to be with you. I'm fighting to end the harvest because I want us to have a life together…with each other. I want us to have a future without war or conflict…a future I want for everyone here".

Meia leaned her head against his chest, "So you're scared just like the rest of us".

"I'm terrified" he said as he wrapped his arms around her, "But I won't let us lose. The future…our future will come and I won't let the harvest get in the way of that".

Meia looked up to him with a small smile, "I believe in you and I'll fight alongside you until the end" she tightened her grip around him as she closed her eyes and kissed him.

Mobius also closed his eyes as he accepted her love, unaware that Leona was watching them from above.

* * *

><p><strong>AN.** Aaaaaah finally back. So so long in the making and I finally got around to it.

I had planned on having this up sometime in January, but the weekends of the 4th to 6th and 11th to 13th I was at an Anime convention in my hometown Ichibancon 2013. Had a lot of fun and got sidetracked with new manga and other jazz blah blah blah.

Anyway I'm back now or at least I hope I am. I'm hitting up another Con March 1st - 3rd in Greensboro, NC called Stellercon so I won't be around in the very near future, but I'll be back soon.

Thanks for being patient with the long update, stay tuned everyone.


	16. Tango Line

Sorry for the extended delay, but I've been busy and was forced into a long absence to recharge so to speak. Anyway we're back and ready to resume operations.

* * *

><p>"Who's Rabat?" Yellow 13 asked Mobius after BC announced the presence of the conman's ship approaching the Nirvana.<p>

"A conman who visited the ship a while back" Mobius told him while he was sifting through squadron reports, "He goaded Hibiki into a fight and then beat the hell out of him".

"Really?" 13 asked him.

"Well until I shot him anyway" Mobius said keeping his eyes on the logs in front of him.

"You shot him?" 13 asked.

Mobius defended himself in his usual expressionless tone, "In the shoulder nothing fatal".

"And now he's back?" 13 asked.

"Seems that way" Mobius said.

"And you're not worried?"

"Couldn't care less actually, as long as he doesn't endanger anyone on the ship he can do what he wants".

13 finally confessed something that had been bothering him, "I'm curious to know how you're always so stoic in the face of every situation".

"And I would like to know why you always follow me around" Mobius replied in a sarcastic tone, "I'm starting to feel like you have some kind of creepy obsession with me".

13 was silent for a brief moment before answering, "You know I really have no idea. I guess I'm just trying to learn more about the man who defeated me".

"Well you can keep watching all you want you won't see anything that's different from what you see now" Mobius told him before standing up from the desk he was sitting at, "I was hoping to have these done earlier, but thanks to Leona's interruption my plans were delayed".

"What plans?" 13 asked him in an amused tone, "Planning to spend more time with Meia?"

"Actually I was planning on taking a nap somewhere with no foot traffic" Mobius answered, "Anyway I'm going to go speak to the captain if you'll excuse me".

After Mobius left with his files tucked under his arm, 13 decided to investigate this Rabat person himself and if he really caused the trouble Mobius said he did the most obvious place he'd end up is the brig.

Mobius entered the bridge to see Hibiki standing in front of the captain, "They'll be coming for us next I just know it! Those people…they fought with everything they had, they were completely different from those people on Anpathos".

"And because of that, they perished" BC said rather coldly which seemed to frustrate Hibiki.

"That may be true" Hibiki said as he tightened his fist, "But I can't just let them die in vain like that, I have to do something".

"I'm guessing this is the first time you've witnessed someone die in front of you?" Mobius asked, revealing his presence to them.

Hibiki looked down at Mobius and the veteran ace was surprised by the fear in the young boy's eyes, whatever he saw was definitely bad. "They're coming for us next" Hibiki said, "We have to beat them…if we don't we'll die to".

"Then we'll beat them" Mobius told him, "It's not like it's a hard choice or anything we fight or we die right? Then we fight and we win. Simple".

The captain smiled at him, "You seem to be a lot calmer than usual Mobius".

"Maybe I'm just well rested for once" Mobius said to her before looking at Hibiki, "Hibiki tell me everything you can about the enemy".

Hibiki noticed a different look in the ISAF ace's eyes, a distant look as if he was already deep in thought on how to deal with the enemy. The teen from Tarak lowered his head, "They called it a flagship" he began, explaining everything he saw in as much detail as he could, the firepower and size of the monster heading their way.

Down in the brig, Yellow 13 stopped in front of an active cell where a man dressed in tribal clothing was relaxing on a cot.

"You're a new face" the man said to 13 "I don't recall seeing you last time I was here".

"I'm a recent addition" 13 told him, "I heard a few things about you and wanted to see for myself" he admitted blankly, "So tell me why a conman would stoop so low to start attacking an adolescent?"

Rabat had a bit of an arrogant smile on his face as he spoke, "The kid thought he was a man so I need to educate him a little on what being a man really means".

"Is that so?" 13 asked, obviously not buying the answer he was given, "And how did nearly killing him teach him a lesson?"

Rabat didn't answer, he merely smiled and 13 knew he wasn't going to get a real answer out of him so he left.

13 entered the brig just as Hibiki finished telling Mobius everything he could about the enemy, "Well I've decided Rabat is the type I don't get along with".

Mobius had his eyes closed, quickly and silently muttering something to himself.

Everyone waited in silence for Mobius to come out of his thoughts and when he did he had a pleased look on his face, "Alright so if the flagship has that kind of firepower then clearly we're out gunned, but we have maneuverability on our side. So we'll scramble all pilots and deal with the enemy leaving the flagship alone for the time. Wipe out all of the grunts and once everything else is out of the way we'll focus all of our fire on the flagship at once".

"It's a pretty straightforward plan" Magno admitted, "I don't like it, but it looks like it's all we have to go on for now. BC alert the entire ship to a possible battle, have all hands on standby immediately".

BC acknowledged the captain's orders and activated her terminal, turning on the ship's PA system and informing the crew of the incoming enemy.

Mobius immediately turned to 13, "Captain I want you to go to the hangar and oversee preparations there. I'm going to go have a talk with Rabat".

"Meia's dread has left the hangar" Aramone called out.

"What's she doing?" BC wondered.

Mobius sighed, "Change of plans, I'm going out there with her. Make sure she doesn't get herself killed".

Mobius left with Yellow 13 for the hangar, once there Mobius began climbing into the cockpit of his F-22 when 13 called out to him, "Do you really think we can beat that thing? If it's really that powerful, can we win?"

Mobius had a so what kind of look on his face, "We're going to find out".

The engines of the F-22 roared to life before the fighter launched. Mobius contacted Meia, telling her that if she was going to insist on patrolling the area that she fall back to his side first.

Back in the hangar, 13 helped the hangar teams make sure things would be ready for when the enemy showed up, the thought of an imminent attack reminded him of the day a bomb was placed on the runway Yellow squadron used during the Usean Continental War, the bomb that damaged Yellow 4's fighter and resulted in her easily being shot down by Mobius later that day.

"It won't happen again" he told himself as he clenched his fists, "I won't lose anymore wingmen ever again".

In space, Mobius quickly caught up with Meia's dread performing a wide top roll to Meia's right and then leveling his fighter alongside her.

"What are you doing out here?" Meia asked him.

"I could ask you the same question" Mobius told her, "You know I don't like it when people go off on their own".

"I came out to scout the area" Meia told him.

Mobius looked ahead of them, "They'll be here soon enough we don't need to be this far from the Nirvana".

Meia sighed, "I know, but…I want to see this thing with my own eyes, I need to see just what we're up against".

"We're going to be fine" Mobius told her, "No matter what this thing is we're going to win".

Meia smiled slightly, "Well I hope you're right, they're here".

Mobius looked ahead of them to see a massive ship approaching them, "Alright let's get back to the ship".

Meia and Mobius turned around fleeing from the approaching enemy, "Meia here, I've spotted the enemy".

Back on the Nirvana, Dita was in the hangar trying to figure out how to repair the Vanguard, but to no avail despite amount of grease and oil on her.

"Oh this is no good" she said to herself, "No matter what I do I just can't figure this out".

Paiway stood in front of her and held out her frog puppet, "Ribbit, what are you doing Dita?"

"Hey!" Dita said happily, "Can you help me out?"

Paiway slowly lowered her puppet, "Repair work isn't in my job description".

Dita sighed, "It's not in mine either".

"Dita, I have a question for you. Why are you always doing your best when it comes to Hibiki?"

"What you've never had something like that?" Dita asked her before sitting up, "Well it's like you can never get them out of your head. You're always wondering where they are and what they're doing and you sometimes wonder if they're thinking about you to" Dita smiled, "I can't stop thinking about him ever since the first moment we met".

"But it seems like Hibiki is always trying to push you away" the young nurse held up her frog puppet, "Doesn't it?"

"I guess that's true" Dita smiled again.

Paiway sighed before speaking with her puppet again, "Well I guess I give up then Dita, you're pretty strong".

The ship's alarm went off finally signaling the enemy's arrival and the dread pilots were scrambled.

Outside the Nirvana, the dreads set themselves in position with Jura at the head of the formation.

"When did you get out here?" Jura asked when she saw Meia and Mobius return to formation.

"I came out a little earlier to check out the conditions" Meia told her.

"Do you think we can beat them?" Jura asked, "I mean with just us?"

"I want you to oversee operations for the A team Jura. Barnette I want you to command the B team".

"Meia" Jura said in a distant tone, "I don't like losing on general principles".

"Neither do I" Meia replied.

"Ok that's good".

Yellow 13 joined the formation along with the rest of Eclipse squadron including Leona, "Eclipse team in position and awaiting orders" 13 said.

Mobius set his fighter at the head of the formation with Meia beside him, "As always our priority is the Yellows, once they're done engage the enemy as you see fit, but stay away from the flagship…Leona we need to work together on this".

Leona didn't respond.

Mobius silently exhaled, "Bridge, give me a head count on all present Yellows in formation".

"No Yellows detected in the formation" Ezra replied.

"No Yellows?" Laura repeated, "So should we just focus our attention on the regular enemy?"

"Affirmative" Mobius told her, "Focus all fire on the enemy in front of us for now, but keep an eye out for any Yellows that might try to sneak in behind us, other than that you're free to engage as you wish as long as you avoid the flagship".

Both Yukiko and Laura acknowledged their orders while Leona finally spoke in a gloomy voice, "Mobius…"

"Yeah?"

"I'm trusting you to live up to your words".

"Understood" Mobius replied before they heard Pyoro's voice over the radio.

"Attention! You have no right to exist other than as parts to be used by us".

"What is that thing going on about now?" 13 asked.

"It's the enemy" Ezra cried, "They must be using Pyoro as a communication channel".

"Suppose you tell us who you are and where you're from?" the captain asked them.

"We are messengers from the planet Earth" the enemy answered through Pyoro, "You are allowed to live only as provisions for the Earth's future".

"Earth huh?" Mobius muttered, "Well…that's ten points for me".

"You mean you knew?" Meia asked him.

"I had my suspicions" Mobius admitted.

"The planet our ancestors came from" Aramone said, "So they're the ones that have been hunting us?"

"You must follow your destiny" the possessed NAVI-bot told them, "The act of denying the future that must come to pass is against the order of the Earth. If you fight this the only other alternative is complete destruction".

"You know you're awfully confident considering how many times we've beaten you up to this point" Mobius said, "Just because you have the bigger stick doesn't mean you'll win".

"You" the enemy said, "The demon that caused this. You have no right to exist at all, not even as parts to be used. It is your evil that caused this to happen; by all rights…you should be dead".

"I'm sure I have no idea what you mean" Mobius said calmly before once again returning to his sarcastic nature, "But please do go on I am very enthralled".

"Can we please not taunt the enemy with the giant ship of death and pain?" 13 asked in a childish sounding voice.

The enemy spoke again, "And you. You are just as responsible as the demon".

"Reaper" Mobius corrected, "I am the Grim Reaper not a demon, get it right".

The enemy was silent before communications ended.

"Communications have been cut off" Ezra said, "Rabat's ship has also left the Nirvana".

"So you've decided to run away with your tail between your legs?" Magno asked him.

"Does a tree bear fruit if it dies?" Rabat asked her in return, "And I assume you'd rather not die is that right?"

Magno smiled at him, "Yes unfortunately for you".

"Righty right!" Rabat enthusiastically said, "I'm sure we'll meet again".

"Too bad" Mobius said, "I wanted to shoot him again".

The enemy formations finally started spreading out forcing Meia to give the command to engage.

"Alright this is it" Mobius said, "Eclipse squadron weapons live and free to engage".

Receiving a "Roger" from his wingmen, Mobius flew forward, immediately grabbing the first kill of the battle after shooting down a cube-type with his guns.

"It looks like they've learned to predict our movements" Meia said as she watched how easily the enemy evaded her and the others "All units remain on alert at all times".

"Barnette on your six!" Mobius yelled as a cube type swooped in behind Barnette and attacked her before getting shot down by Mobius before he assisted 13 in taking out a group of enemies pursuing Dita and Meia.

Mobius ordered, "13 take Yukiko and hit the left, Leona you and Laura hit the right".

"Mobius look out!" Meia cried.

A sea urchin flew toward Mobius, spinning wildly, but the unstoppable ace performed a wide barrel roll avoiding the enemy before decelerating in mid arc forcing two pursuing cube types to pass him and allowing him to shoot them down.

"Look out for what?" Mobius asked as if nothing had happened.

"Now isn't the time to be a smart ass, we have to protect the Nirvana" Meia told him while shooting down an enemy.

"What is that?" Aramone muttered.

"Did you detect something?" BC asked her.

The dark skinned bridge bunny turned around, "Yes Commander. There's a large object approaching the combat area at a high speed".

"A large object?" BC asked, "Calculate its trajectory if it's on a collision course we can't risk getting hit".

"Aye aye, Commander".

Ezra cried, "Oh no. The Nirvana is drifting out of orbit".

"What was that?" Magno asked her.

Ezra continued, "The unknown planet at out ten o clock is creating a strong magnetic field, its pulling the Nirvana into it".

Belvedere scanned the planet, "High density of gas particles detected. If this keeps up there will be system abnormalities".

"Just what we need at a time like this" Magno growled before Aramone cried out.

"Captain! The high speed object I detected is on a direct path toward the Nirvana, we have less than a minute before impact!"

"Bart evasive maneuvers now!" Magno yelled.

"I'm trying" Bart panicked, "The gravity is too strong for me to pull away from".

BC got into her terminal, "All pilots be advised we have a high speed object approaching the area, projected path of travel is being shown to you, evade!"

"What kind of object?" 13 asked as he evaded an enemy, "Why are these guys so persistent all of a sudden? They've never been this aggressive".

"20 seconds until the object enters the area!" Aramone cried.

"Bart!" Magno yelled, "If you can't pull away from the planet then turn into it, we can't get hit by that thing!"

Bart screamed as he turned toward the unknown planet while Aramone counted down the seconds until the object entered the area.

The object flashed by the Nirvana, thankfully missing the ship by a large margin, but now the Nirvana was trapped inside the gravitational field of the planet and had no way to escape.

"What was that?" BC asked.

"One moment retrieving the image of the object" Aramone said before an image was displayed on screen.

"Haven't we seen that before?" Magno wondered, seeing the image of a large bullet looking object.

"Mobius said it was something called Stonehenge right?" BC asked, "When we were at that planet Anpathos".

"Stonehenge?" Mobius said over the radio, "That's twice they've fired that at us…Bridge team modify the radar set scan range. Use the direction the attack came from and narrow your search to that angle alone" making a swift turn to the right to evade an enemy, Mobius turned back to shoot it down once it passed him, "Scan as far out as you can along that path, see if you can detect anything".

"Roger, scanning" Ezra replied as she began changing the radar's scan range.

"There's too many of them" Jura cried, "They're breaking through our defense line".

The enemy broke through the defense line formed by the dreads and began attacking the Nirvana whittling down its shields.

"Our shields are at 30%, we won't last much longer at this rate!" Belvedere panicked.

"Eclipse team, break off your attack and defend the Nirvana" Mobius ordered.

"Mobius look out!" Meia yelled as a massive wave of cube types swarmed around Mobius.

The enemy swarm surrounded Mobius and to everyone's surprise didn't attack him; instead they began flying around each other in giant circles, allowing the ISAF ace to escape.

Mobius said, "The only chance they've ever had and ever will get at killing me and they let it slip…Their loss".

"What is that?" Yellow 13 muttered as the circling cube types began merging with each other.

The cube types merged together revealing clones of the three Vandreads.

"But how?" BC gasped in complete disbelief of what they were all seeing, "They've learned how to make copies of the Vandreads?"

"Isn't that cute?" Mobius asked in a teasing voice, "They've learned a new trick".

"Uh Mobius" 13 began, "I don't think now's really the time to be".

13 stopped speaking when Mobius flew forward and fired an entire wave of missiles at the copy of Vandread Jura destroying it.

"I'm sorry captain did you say something?" Mobius asked him.

"No, not a thing" 13 sighed.

"All flash and no substance or style" Mobius said before the cube types formed another copy of Vandread Jura.

"I think you're forgetting that we're out numbered here" 13 told him.

"It may have slipped my mind" Mobius admitted before Meia issued the retreat order to all pilots.

"That may be a good idea at this point" Mobius replied, "Eclipse team regroup and fall back, 13 you're with me. We're going to provide cover for them to retreat".

"Yellow 13 roger".

Mobius and Yellow 13 separated from each other to cover the retreating dread teams from the pursuing enemy, evading several attempts against them and counter attacking as needed as the dreads escaped into the planet's surface and back to the Nirvana.

"Meia look out on your right!" Barnette yelled as Meia retreated from the battle.

The copy of Vandread Meia swooped in behind the dread leader and flashed by at sonic speeds, ripping off the wing of the dread and sending Meia into a wild spin.

"Meia!" Mobius yelled just before Gascogne's delivery ship saved her.

"I'm alright" Meia panted, "I'm sorry Ms. Gasco".

"There's nothing to be sorry for, you did your best" the Reg leader told her, "That's all anyone could ever ask".

"Heads up" 13 told them, "The enemy is making another pass".

Gascogne watched the copy of Vandread Meia swoop in behind her just like it did to Meia, preparing to flash by and pierce through her ship, "Well that can't be good" the Reg leader smiled as the enemy targeted her.

"Gascogne evade!" BC yelled as the fake Vandread entered its sonic speed state and flew forward only to fly directly into a barrage of three AIM-120 AMRAAM missiles that destroyed the enemy before it could strike Gascogne's ship.

"Thanks for the assist" Gascogne exhaled, "I'll have to return the favor someday".

"Just get Meia back to the ship, we'll cover you" Mobius told her, but it seemed the enemy was finally breaking off its attack, one by one the enemy retreated away from them and allowed them to escape to the planet.

"Alright so they're just going to wait us out until we all die here" 13 said, "So what's the plan to get us out of here?"

"I don't know about you captain" Mobius said calmly before landing back in the Nirvana's hangar, "But I'm going to take a nap".

* * *

><p><strong>AN.** And there we go, at long last chapter 16 in all its glory. Fiiiiiiiiinalllllllllllllllllly!

Blah blah blah, random chapter details the chapter title is taken from the track Tango Line which was the music during Mission 10 in Ace Combat 4. I figured it fit considering the situation the Nirvana's crew had to face today.


	17. United Victory

A house divided against itself cannot stand. –Abraham Lincoln.

* * *

><p>Landing in the hangar, Mobius climbed out of his F-22 and walked over to Meia who was being carried away to the infirmary on a stretcher. Her shoulder was injured when the enemy attacked her; if it wasn't for her padded flight suit the damage would be much worse.<p>

"Don't worry about me" she smiled painfully, "I'll be fine ".

"I know" Mobius said calmly as he walked out of the hangar alongside the women taking Meia to the infirmary.

13 watched them leave from the cockpit of his fighter, he had only been on the Nirvana for a week, but seeing this many people in despair reminded him of the pain he felt when he lost Yellow 4 during the destruction of Stonehenge.

Seeing the terrified look on Dita's face 13 placed his hand on her shoulder, "We're going to be fine Dita. We'll think of something don't worry".

"I can't take it anymore!" Jura yelled, "Why are we picking fights we can't win? It's so pointless".

"There has to be something we can do" Dita muttered before running out of the hangar leaving 13 with Jura.

13 looked down at Jura, "Jura mind if I give you some advice?"

Jura looked up to 13 for a brief moment before placing her face against her knees, "What is it?" she asked him her tone carrying the weight of fear.

"In a time like this" 13 said before looking over to Mobius' fighter, "You have to find something, anything to hold onto. If you don't you will lose, it doesn't matter what it is if it gives you hope or just something to fight for then hold on to it".

Leaving the hangar once he finished speaking, 13 made his way to the bridge to speak with the captain, along the way seeing the fearful look on everyone's face no one had any hope in them that they would survive this encounter.

In the cafeteria, Mobius was sitting at his usual spot in the back corner with a single cup of coffee in front of him, staring down at the tarot card he always kept with him, "Yes Leona?" he said while keeping his eyes on the card in front of him.

Leona walked in and over to Mobius' table, "Something on your mind" Mobius asked her, looking up to her with a get to it kind of stare.

"Why aren't you with Meia?" Leona asked him.

Mobius flinched at the question, but immediately collected himself, "She's in no danger, it's a minor wound she's just a bit winded from the hit she took is all".

"I saw the two of you last night" Leona told him, "When you were out in the garden section".

"And?" Mobius asked her sarcastically.

Leona looked to the side and lowered her eyes, "The thought of a man and woman being together in such a way…it bothers me. First in that video that was found during Christmas and now you and Meia…" Leona gritted her teeth for a moment obviously trying to keep her cool, "Meia used to be just like me" she said in a semi calm tone, "She hated men to, but after you came along she started changing and now she's always around you and you seem to be the only one she talks to".

"Do you have a point Leona?" Mobius asked her.

Leona balled her fists, but managed to remain calm as she spoke, "You two are almost always together now and you've even been in her room multiple nights I want you to tell me why".

Mobius smirked as he looked back down at the tarot card on the table, "Before I answer that there's something I'd like to ask you Leona, hypothetically if Laura's life was on the line would you sacrifice yours to save hers?"

Leona was taken aback by the sudden question, but still answered "Of course I would. She's my sister".

Mobius nodded, "And why would you do that?" he asked her, "Why would you give your life for someone else?"

Leona was silent once again as she began realizing where the conversation was leading, "Because I love my sister" she said quietly.

Mobius nodded again, "Exactly because she's your family and you love her". Mobius stood up, "Do you know why I became a pilot in the first place?"

Leona looked down again, "I…saw the recordings on your dreams…when you killed those people" Leona's hands were trembling slightly, "That's another reason I don't like or trust you. You've murdered multiple people in cold blood before and to have someone like you roam free on this ship".

"But do you know why I did those things?" Mobius asked her.

Leona kept her eyes on the ground and silently shook her head.

"It's because those people took my little sister away from me" Mobius told her surprising Leona.

Once Leona looked back at him he continued, "My little sister Claire…I loved her, she was going to turn 16 the next day and I was going to pick her up from school before the bombers attacked our town. I had no choice, but to hide underground until they passed. Once I returned to the streets I noticed they were flying over the area where her school was and I began running, praying that she was alright" Mobius looked down at the card on the table, "When I arrived at her school, half of it was collapsed and there were casualties everyone, I ran past all of the injured people outside the only thing on my mind was making sure Claire was alright…when I got to her classroom I saw her on the floor".

"She died in the attack?" Leona asked him.

Mobius nodded, "I didn't want to believe it, I was praying that it was a nightmare and that I was about to wake up, but I never did…A nightmare while I was awake one that's kept me from sleeping for so long".

"And your parents?" Leona asked him.

"Our house was on the side of town that was first attacked" Mobius told her, "Our home was destroyed by some of the first bombs that fell and my mother and father buried inside it".

Leona looked down once again, "I didn't know" she muttered, but Mobius immediately cut her off.

"I don't want you to feel sorry for me Leona" he said, "I want you to understand that we're not as different as you think we are. I lost my little sister and took revenge on a lot of people, most of which weren't even part of the bombing, but I killed them all the same. You fight so hard because you want to protect Laura right? You don't want anything to happen to her, you protect her because you love her and I killed because I loved mine".

"So you became a pilot purely out of revenge?" Leona asked him and once again Mobius nodded, "Then what about the Nirvana and the rest of the crew?" she asked him, "Why are you fighting to protect us?"

"At first I didn't really care" Mobius admitted, "You were all strangers to me and the only reason I helped you in the first place is because I was on the ship as well so the enemy was also threatening me, but as time passed I began to feel more comfortable here, the captain treated me like someone she had known for a long time and then Meia began talking to me at first she only accepted me because I was such a capable pilot, but after a while…" Mobius paused and took a deep breath, steeling himself for what he was about to do.

"After being here so long Leona, I realized that the entire crew of the Nirvana is a giant family who loves each other…something I longed to have back. That's why I continued to help all of you fight to make sure none of you have to go through what I did".

Leona took a moment to process what Mobius told her before repeating her original question, "Then what about Meia?" she asked him, "You act differently around her. No one else seems to notice, but I have. It's subtle, but you act differently when you're with her. So why are the two of you always together?"

"Why are you asking a question you already know the answer to?" Mobius asked her, "Or do you just want confirmation of what you already suspect?"

Leona didn't say anything, she looked back at the floor again as Mobius also looked away.

"It's because I love her" Mobius admitted after looking back at her, "And I would do anything for her".

Leona exhaled slowly, "So you'd be willing to die for her?"

Mobius answered her immediately, "It wouldn't even be a thought for me. If her life was in danger I would protect her by any means even if that meant taking a fatal hit for her".

Leona balled her fists again, "Do you really expect me to believe that?" she growled, "That a man would sacrifice himself for someone else let along a woman?"

"You've already seen what I would do to someone who takes away someone important to me" Mobius told her, "It's not hard to imagine the lengths I'd go to, to protect someone else that's important. You saw it when we were retreating didn't you?" he asked her, "The enemy tried to kill both Meia and Gascogne…You saw how quickly I attacked it to save them. In the heat of a battle of that scale there isn't time to think about your next move there are only reactions and instincts. I didn't have to think about how I would save Meia I just reacted to protect her".

Leona looked away from him again she didn't say anything, but it was easy for Mobius to read her face, she was fighting against herself over whether she believed him or not.

Mobius grabbed the tarot card from the table and placed it back into his breast pocket, "I would gladly die to protect her and I wouldn't have to think twice about it".

Leona balled her fists again, gritting her teeth and holding back her anger as she spoke, "Are you…Would you be willing to die to protect anyone else on the ship? Or is Meia the only one who gets that gesture?"

"It wouldn't matter who it is" Mobius told her, "It could be Meia, Barnette, you or Hibiki it wouldn't matter I would take a hit for any of you to make sure you made it back safely…I've lost many allies in the past none of them friends, but we were all fighting for the same cause. So as long as this ship is under my protection no one is going to die…No one".

Leona tightened her fists even more, "So you'll protect everyone here then? No matter who it is?"

That's when Mobius finally realized what was going on…Leona was scared as well and she was asking in her own way if he would save her along with everyone else.

"It's ok to be afraid Leona" he told her which surprised the dread pilot. "I'm afraid as well, but I can't allow that to stop me, I have to keep fighting for all of us".

"Who said I'm afraid?" Leona barked, "And I definitely wasn't asking you to help me!"

Mobius didn't answer; he raised one of his eyebrows in a questioning gaze and remained silent finally causing Leona to break down.

Leona began sobbing, her fear of losing finally showing she was afraid of dying and even more afraid that there was nothing she could do.

Mobius walked over to her and placed his hand on her shoulder, "It's alright to be afraid no one will think less of you, not even me".

"Like I care what you think of me" she said through her tears.

Mobius narrowed his eyes, "You don't have to prove anything to me Leona, I know how strong you are and there is no shame in asking for help or showing that you are afraid".

Leona fell to her knees, but Mobius caught her in mid fall and gently allowed her knees to rest against the floor, "After everything I've done" she sobbed, "Everything I've said to you…why?"

"Because I don't want you to go through what I have" he told her, "You want to protect Laura and I don't want you to lose her and go through the pain I did. I want to help you protect her so I can atone for not protecting mine".

Mixed feelings of rage and fear were flooding through Leona as she continued to kneel on the floor crying. Eventually Mobius wrapped his arm around her shoulders and pulled her to him, holding her head against his shoulder.

"We're going to win Leona" he whispered to her, "I swear to you we'll all survive this".

"How?" she asked him pulling away to look into his eyes, "How can you be so sure?"

Mobius smiled at her as he got to his feet and helped her up, "Because I know there are at least six people on this ship who haven't given up yet".

Mobius began walking away, but stopped right behind Leona and looked over his shoulder at her, "All it takes to change the course of history. Is the will of a single person, so just imagine what the will of so many can do".

With those words Mobius left the cafeteria and returned to the infirmary to check on Meia.

"Dita open your eyes!" Paiway's voice yelled, "We're risking our lives for a planet that doesn't even care about us and now we're about to die! We should have just run when we had the chance now it's all over!"

"How can you think that way?" Dita asked her in a frightened voice before looking over to Barnette, "You don't think its hopeless do you Barnette?"

Barnette looked at the floor, "Leave me out of this" she told her coldly, "You know I've never been a fan of your bubbly optimism or your undying bubbly spirit".

Mobius leaned against the wall outside the doorway, hiding himself from them as they continued to argue.

Tears began forming in Dita's eyes as she looked downward, "I know you think I'm stupid, but I don't know what else to do other than to try my best, I can't stand seeing everyone so sad. I know we're in a bad situation right now, but you don't see me giving up so why are you!?"

Neither Barnette nor Paiway looked at Dita as she continued to cry, "We've been through so much up until now and we've continued to survive because we never gave up, so why now?"

Barnette glared at Dita, "Dita just shut up already. None of us want to hear one of your sappy speeches right now".

Dita took a step back before spinning around and running out of the room, tears streaming from her eyes as she sprinted down the hall.

Waiting a few seconds after Dita left, Mobius entered the infirmary and looked over to Barnette, "A bit harsh aren't you?"

Barnette quickly moved her eyes away from the veteran ace, "I've got nothing to say to you" she said in a low, hostile tone.

Mobius looked over to Meia, "How are you feeling?"

"I'm fine" Meia told him softly, "It was nothing serious".

"I'm glad to hear it" Mobius said to her before looking back at Barnette, "Have you really given up Barnette?" he asked her, "What happened to that fiery pilot who always charged in? It's not like you to cower up in fear".

"I'M NOT COWERING!" Barnette yelled.

"No you are" Mobius said maintaining his calm disposition, "What's more is you're taking it out on someone else. You're not the only one who's afraid Barnette" Mobius turned to Meia again, "Meia are you afraid?"

Meia looked away for a few seconds before nodding, "I am".

Mobius then looked to Duelo, "And you Duelo?"

Duelo looked at Mobius, "I confess my fear of our situation, but panicking will do nothing to solve it".

Mobius looked back to Barnette, "Exactly, so Meia is afraid Duelo is afraid Laura is afraid Yukiko is afraid. Leona is afraid Captain Hamilton is afraid and BC and the captain are also afraid. And you know what?" Mobius paused to make sure Barnette was actually listening, "I'm afraid, I'm terrified of the enemy that's out there, but I refuse to give up I refuse to wait here until our times runs out and I refuse to die here when someone I care about is in danger".

Mobius straightened himself, "Right now the enemy is out there waiting for us to die in here…Well their going to be disappointed because this is far from over". Mobius turned around and left the infirmary making his way back to the hangar.

On the bridge, Yellow 13 was speaking with Magno about their current situation.

"You really believe we can win?" Magno asked him.

13 tilted his head to the side, "I believe that we have to try captain. At this point win or lose we have to take the gamble because right now the only sure thing is we're going to die if we stay here".

Magno hummed briefly as she thought on 13's words, "The crew is in a bad place right now and they all think it's hopeless to try, there may be only a slight chance for our victory, but even with that in mind do any of them have the will to fight?"

"That's the other reason I came to see you captain" 13 said, "You know the women of this ship better than anyone else if you can think of anyway to raise the morale of the crew we have to try it now".

Magno was quiet for a while before she answered, "I'm afraid not" her face showed more regret than fear, "Even if there was something I could think of they're all too afraid. At a time like this all we can do is hope that a solution can be found".

"Hope is great when it works captain" 13 said, "But I don't think it's going to do us any good at a time like this we have to take everything into our own hands because right now only we can decide whether we live or die".

"I wish that were true young man" Magno replied, "But without certainty of our victory I can't give the order to just send my family into the mouth of the enemy just to allow us to escape".

"Then send me and Mobius" 13 barked, "Send us out the two of us will be more than enough to hold them off while the Nirvana escapes".

"I'm afraid that won't work" Parfet's voice said as her screen appeared on the captain's terminal, "The Peksis is acting really strangely now I don't think the ship will move at this rate".

"For the love of" the captain groaned, "What's it doing now?"

"From what I can tell its building up internal pressure" Parfet reported.

"What does that mean?" 13 asked "And for that matter what is the Peksis?"

"Oh that's right I forgot you're still new here" Magno said to 13, "The Peksis is the ship's energy source, but sometimes it gets a little unstable, do you have any idea what its trying to do Parfet?"

"From what I can tell I think its trying to preserve itself" Parfet said, "It knows what's going on and its building up internal pressure as a way of preserving itself. It's basically the same thing that happened when all of this first started".

"You mean when we were thrown across the galaxy?" the captain asked.

Parfet nodded, "At this rate it's going to wait for the planet's gravity to crush us and the pressure it's built up will keep it safe".

13 shook his head, "I'm not going to die here. No one is going to die today". The ace pilot turned around to leave the bridge with the captain calling out to him.

"Just where do you think you're going?"

"To the hangar" 13 told her, "I'm not going to let anyone die on my watch".

Inside the hangar, Mobius was watching Hibiki on the Vanguard platform, the young pilot was using Pyoro to run simulations on a plan he was hoping would get them out of the deathtrap they were caught in.

"Well what do you think?" Hibiki asked the NAVI-bot.

"I'm afraid not" Pyoro told him, "It's true that this planet is about to turn into a star, but it's impossible to carry this mission out by yourself".

Hibiki rubbed the back of his neck, "Alright then next plan".

"Humans" Pyoro sighed, "Always so persistent".

Across the hangar, Mobius continued to watch Hibiki go over multiple plans refusing to admit that this was the end for them.

"They're not invincible" Mobius muttered to himself as he picked up the half done maintenance report for his team, "Invincible?" he muttered again before he began feeling dizzy, dropping the clipboard, Mobius placed his hand against his head as he leaned against the table to balance himself, "Invincible…Invincible…". The dizzy spell stopped and Mobius looked up, "The Aegir fleet" he said to himself, "Erusea's invincible Aegir fleet".

The ISAF ace smiled to himself as he turned around, "There's no such thing as an invincible enemy". Mobius walked over to the Vanguard and up to Hibiki, "What have you got?"

Hibiki kept his eyes on Pyoro's screen, "This planet is about to turn into a star. I'm thinking if we can get the core to a certain temperature we can make it go nova and that will wipe out the enemy or at least destroy enough of them that we can get away".

"Well it definitely sounds like it would work" Mobius said, "Let me guess the only problem is getting away before the flare hits us as well right?"

Hibiki continued to keep his focus on Pyoro as he answered, "Exactly. With the exception of that we've got everything else worked out".

"What do you think BC?" Mobius asked just as BC reached the top step of the Vanguard platform.

The commander looked over to them, "Have you considered using boosters? I'm sure you could build one from spare parts in no time".

Pyoro answered, "We've already calculated boosters into the equation, but we're still short by 20 seconds".

"So that's it then" Hibiki muttered, looking back at the NAVI-bot.

BC smirked at the young pilot, "You've really matured you look a lot better to me then you use to".

"Look if you're up to something I don't really have time for it" the Vanguard pilot replied.

"Nothing of the sort" BC smiled, "I was just paying you a compliment".

"Only 20 seconds huh?" Mobius wondered before the speakers in the hangar and the rest of the ship came to life carrying Dita's voice.

"Hey everybody listen up! We might lose and we might die, but that's what life is isn't it? We've all decided to fight this battle and we decided to fight it because we didn't want someone other than ourselves deciding our future for us or controlling our destinies, but now you're all losing heart and giving up. That's a mistake please don't say it's hopeless because if you say so then it'll become true. I'll never give up and I'll never say it's hopeless because I want to be with all of you forever because I love all of you, so you have to look deep within your hearts to find hope".

Her voice began cracking as she continued pleading with everyone; "If we give up now then we're going to lose, but I'm telling you we can still win I know we can! So please…don't give up…that's how we got this far isn't it? And I know that as long as we try hard and stay together we'll never lose so I'll say it once more…please don't give up".

"You idiot" Hibiki said softly with a smile on his face, "Well you heard her we're not going to give up yet".

Hibiki went back to his plans which made BC smile as she walked away, leaving Mobius with him.

"Nope still impossible" Pyoro said and Hibiki immediately growled, "Will you stop saying that nothing is impossible!"

"How about using my dread?" Meia's voice asked him. That should take care of your speed problem I assume you've taken care of the next steps?"

Hibiki smiled at her, "Of course I have".

The hangar door raised up again showing Jura along with Yellow 13 and the other members of the Eclipse squadron, "So this is where you've been hiding" the blonde pilot said, "You should no better than to try hiding things from me. I have a sixth sense for things that are interesting".

"Took you guys long enough" Mobius called down to his team.

"Sorry captain" Yukiko said to him, "We had some last minute issues to settle before we went back out".

Laura looked up to him, "We're with you captain no matter what you decide".

Leona remained silent, but the look in her eyes had changed. She was still afraid, but she definitely wasn't going to run, she was going to stay and fight to protect what was most important to her.

Mobius turned to Hibiki next to him, "Well time to reveal your plan then, show us what you got Hibiki".

Somehow Dita's words really got through to everyone the entire crew was back to the way they used to be, scurrying around the entire ship preparing for the next round of the battle they fled from.

"They are really going at it" Mobius said blankly, "I haven't seen people scramble like this since the crew of the aircraft carrier I was on before we started the siege of Farbanti".

"Only this time we're on the same side right?" 13 asked him.

"For now" Mobius said to him with a cocky smile.

"About time you should up Dita" Jura said looking behind Mobius and 13.

Dita was behind the group watching them, amazed that everyone really listened to her.

"Well what are you standing there for?" Hibiki asked her, "You're part of the master plan so no slacking off got it?"

Dita smiled at him and nodded, "Understood!"

The pilots all gathered in the hangar ready to launch when the order was given.

Mobius was about to slid into his cockpit when he heard Leona call over to him. Looking down at Mobius was surprised to see her smiling at him.

"I want to thank you" she said, "For everything…I was wrong about you".

"Thank me when we get back" Mobius told her, "Right now we have a home to protect right?"

Leona smiled again as she looked over to her sister Laura, "Not just a home" she said to herself before she turned to leave for the dread platform with the other women of the Eclipse team.

"Alright time for some action" Hibiki said before Dita contacted him over the radio, "Um excuse me Mr. Alien?"

"What is it?" Hibiki asked her, "I've already gone over everything with you".

Dita shook her head, "No its not that it's just…I want you to promise me something. When this is over I want you to promise to come see my room".

Hibiki's face turned red, "Can't we talk about this later?"

Dita shook her head again, "No promise me right now".

"Fine I promise" the young pilot sighed.

Dita smiled, "Thank you! I'll be waiting okay!"

Hibiki sighed again before grinning, "Alright let's go!"

The engines of Mobius' F-22 flared to life as the fighter jet roared out of the hangar with Yellow 13 the Vanguard and the dreads right behind them.

The other three members of the Eclipse launched from the dread platform and followed after Mobius and Yellow 13.

"Alright Eclipse team we have our mission objective" 13 said, "Our job is to provide as much cover for Hibiki and Jura as we can. Just stay in formation and keep the enemy off of them".

Right as the Eclipse squadron was about to break through the planet's surface Mobius gave the order, "Eclipse team, cleared to engage".

The Eclipse squadron broke through the surface of the planet and began firing at the enemy fleet that waited for them, skillfully evading their counter attacks while Hibiki and Jura combined to form their Vandread which proceeded to shield the entire planet.

"Alright we're in place go for it!" Hibiki said.

At the core of the gas planet, Meia, Dita and Barnette were using their dread's lasers to heat the core of the planet to force it into nuclear fusion.

The enemy was ruthless in their attacks against Vandread Jura, but with the new spirit of the Eclipse squadron and the unparalleled skill of their two flight leads they easily defended the Vandread from them.

"The operation is going smoothly" Meia reported, "Dita you're off point adjust your angle".

"Sorry" Dita cried as she adjusted her dread's angle of fire.

On the bridge, Belvedere turned around, "Only 3 minutes left until the pressure crushes us".

"Roger that" Meia said, just a little more, "There! Parfet its time".

The lead engineer smiled as she looked around at her workers, "Alright everyone here we go! Energy reverse!" the engineer crew began flipping switches to reverse the flow of energy throughout the ship forcing the Peksis to disperse its excess energy venting it out of the ship and into the planet around them.

"Energy levels are returning to normal" Belvedere announced.

Aramone looked back to BC and the captain, "Nuclear fusion has been achieved!"

"Let's get the hell out of here!" the captain yelled, "Bart turn the ship around!"

The Nirvana turned around flying away from the planet's core with the three dreads following behind it.

Meia looked back to Dita and yelled, "Dita from here on speed is everything don't slow down even for a second".

"Got it I'm right behind you" Dita said.

"Dita" Barnette said quietly, "Do a good job ok".

Dita smiled at her, "Right I won't let you down".

Barnette contacted Hibiki and Jura, "We'll be breaking through the surface in 30 seconds".

Hibiki nodded, "Alright got it" he then looked to Jura, "Time to separate".

Yellow 13 shot down another enemy before he yelled, "Eclipse team fall back! We only have one chance to return to the Nirvana or we're dead!"

The Eclipse turned around and dived back toward the planet to reunite with the Nirvana as it passed them.

"Ready" Meia told Hibiki just before her and Dita broke through the planet's surface.

Vandread Jura dropped its shield from around the planet and separated allowing Hibiki to combine with Meia from there. The Vandread began falling toward the planet away from the original predetermined path, "You're out of position!" Meia yelled.

"Because you took so damn long!" Hibiki fired back.

Meia adjusted her flight path making sure to intercept the Vanguard fusing into Vandread Meia and using the ship's unmatched speed to grab Dita's dread and flee from the flare approaching quickly behind them.

On the bridge Belvedere sighed before happily announcing that Barnette and the Eclipse team made a safe landing with the Nirvana with the exception of Mobius who remained outside to guard the Nirvana.

"Asteroids detected directly ahead of us" Aramone said, "What do you want to do captain?"

"What the hell have you gotten us into?" Magno yelled at Bart.

"I'm a little busy right now!" the blonde helmsman cried, using all of his energy to keep the Nirvana as far ahead of the flare as possible.

BC jumped into her terminal and told the rest of the bridge operators to switch all of the Nirvana's thrusters to manual control and to sync them with Bart's movements.

A harvest unit that resembled a giant eye flew in front of the Nirvana before turning around and charging up its laser, aiming it directly at the canopy of the bridge.

"It's going to fire!" Belvedere yelled before several missiles impacted the side of the enemy forcing it to the side and into the path of an asteroid.

Mobius' F-22 flew past the Nirvana's canopy dodging the giant rocks hurtling toward him.

"Mobius what are you doing!?" Magno yelled at him.

"My job" Mobius told her, "I'm not returning until everyone else is back safely, I'm the first one out and the last one back".

Mobius turned his fighter back to Vandread Meia which was now carrying Dita's dread toward the harvest flagship with the flare trailing directly behind them.

"_Claire…"_ he thought as he spotted the Vandread flying toward the enemy flagship, his hands trembling as he held his flight stick. _"I'm sorry…I'm sorry I couldn't protect you…I swear to you I won't allow anyone else to die…I wasn't there for you when you needed me I never want to go through that again…I lost you I won't lose anyone else…I refuse to go back until Meia returns with me"._

"_I believe in you"_ a female voice rang in his head. "Claire…" he muttered. _"You'll never fail no matter what. I know you'll always survive you're my hero after all"._

"Dita began sequence 4!" Meia ordered before she separated from Hibiki, allowing him and Dita to combine.

Meia quickly turned her dread away from them as the flare approached behind them, "Come back in one piece you two" she said to herself before seeing Mobius flying along side her, "What are you still doing out here?"

"Waiting for you" he told her, "I'm not going back unless you're with me".

Meia smiled at him, "Alright let's go the rest is up to them".

"They'll win" Mobius said as the two pilots flew back to the Nirvana.

While the two of them flew away, Vandread Dita's cannons fused together with each other forming into a giant lance. With its new weapon in hand, the Vandread reared back allowing the energy of the lance to channel the energy of the flare before hurling it at the flagship.

After it was thrown, the lance carried the full force of the flare along with it just as the flagship began firing its main weapon to stop the attack, but the full force of an exploding planet easily overpowered the monster. The charged lance easily ripped through the mouth of the flagship, tearing through it with the flare causing multiple explosions from within decimating the ship before the flare reached the other side and finally exploded, engulfing the entire area around the flagship.

"They really did it" Meia smiled as she watched the explosion they were flying away from.

"Were you expecting them not to?" Mobius asked her.

Meia looked to the F-22 next to her and smiled again, "No, I knew they would, I believe in them".

"Believe in them?" Mobius muttered, "…Claire…"

"No way!" Dita gasped, drawing Mobius' and Meia's attention back to them, the flagship wasn't destroyed yet, it slowly began advancing out of the exploded flare extremely damaged, but not defeated.

"They're mighty persistent aren't they" Magno said from the bridge.

Aramone gasped, "Another flare from the new star is approaching Vandread Dita".

"Vandread Dita get out of there now!" BC yelled.

"Not yet" Hibiki said, "Yeah not yet!" Dita cheered.

The flare reached the Vandread immediately engulfing it, breaking off all contact with the Vandread.

"All contact with the Vandread has been lost" Aramone said.

"Hibiki you idiot" Bart said, "None of this will mean anything if you die".

"I'm not dead yet" Hibiki said.

"A high energy signal has been detected from inside the flare!" Aramone cheered.

"So he really has changed?" BC smiled.

The Vandread flew out of the second flare, its seared armor glowing red. The super charged Vandread flew toward the retreating flagship, flying directly in to the hold caused by the lance and destroying it from the inside once and for all.

"I'm not carrying them back to the ship" Mobius said with a smile, making Meia laugh as the Nirvana turned around to retrieve the Vandread.

Hibiki climbed out of the Vanguard, surprised to see the entire crew gathered in the hangar applauding his victory and safe return. "Welcome back!" Dita and Jura both said to him as he fell out of the Vanguard's cockpit and into their open arms.

Jura pulled him toward her and excessively thanked him before repeatedly kissing him on the cheek which made Dita jealous.

"Hey stop that!" she cried, pulling Hibiki away from her.

"What's wrong with you?" Jura growled, "I was only trying to thank him for saving my life".

Dita shook her head, "Well you can't, Mr. Alien still has a promise he has to keep".

"A what?" Jura asked, "What kind of promise? Tell me!"

"We've got a problem!" Pyoro shrieked, flying up to them.

"What's wrong with you?" Jura snapped at the NAVI-bot, "Can't you see I'm in the middle of something?"

"There's no time for that!" Pyoro told her, "Take a look at this!" Pyoro's screen changed to show an image of the Nirvana and the flagship they just destroyed, but there were five other flagships slowly turning toward the Nirvana.

"Earth has discovered that we destroyed one of their flagships and have rerouted the others from surrounding solar systems and they're heading straight for Mejere and Tarak!"

"There are five of them!" Jura gasped.

A quick wave of quiet swept across everyone in the hangar.

"What are we going to do?" Barnette asked, "We were barely able to beat one of them".

"What's your point?" Mobius asked her, catching the attention of everyone around them, "We beat one right? Then we can beat two, hell we can beat three. It doesn't matter what they send against us will stand together just like we did today and prove to them that there's nothing they can do to stop us".

Mobius looked up to Hibiki and smiled at him, "Isn't that right?"

Hibiki smirked back at him, "Exactly, we can't back down!" Hibiki got to his feet and clenched his fists, "No matter how high the wall we have to climb over it to show proof that we exist and to do that we have to take the path we have to take".

Pyoro shrieked again before falling to the floor, his screen completely blank.

"Pyoro!" Dita gasped reaching out to the NAVI-bot which immediately jumped up and hovered high into the air, its screen still blank.

"Pointless" the tiny robot said in the same voice he used when he was being used by Earth to communicate with them.

"Is that?" Dita gasped "The enemy?" Meia finished.

"Your victory is hollow, the only thing you have achieved is the destruction of your worlds…your efforts are pointless".

"Pointless?" Mobius said aloud, "I think you're a little confused there, in case you haven't noticed we just took down one of your flagships by forcing a planet to become a star. Not only did we survive the exploding planet, but we focused that energy to destroy your fleet, we just showed you the kind of power we have…and we're just getting started so if you want to send another one our way feel free, I'll be waiting right here for it".

Pyoro hovered over the crowd and stopped almost directly above Mobius, "You…the evil demon that caused all of this, you will not survive".

Mobius smiled at the possessed NAVI-bot and closed his eyes before he started humming, "O'er Azure skies and emerald plains where freedom and justice prevail. With courage and strength we'll fight to the end for liberty in our lives".

Pyoro's screen flashed static and the NAVI-bot fell to the crowd where Meia caught him.

"What was that?" Meia asked Mobius after she caught Pyoro.

"The Hymn of Liberty" Mobius told her, "The national anthem of USEA it was also the song some of the pilots sang after we sunk Erusea's Aegir fleet in Comberth Harbor".

"I see" Meia said, "So what now?"

"Well I don't know about all of you" Mobius said slowly pointing his finger around the entire hangar, "But I'm going to bed, been a long day and we start back early".

A brief victory party was held in the cafeteria, but the day left everyone exhausted so it wasn't long before everyone began turning in for the night.

Meia decided to take a quick shower and have her flight suit cleaned and repaired. When she returned to her room she froze when she saw Mobius sitting on her bed.

"I hope you mind I let myself in" he said to her.

Meia was wearing a light blue nightgown with sleeves longer than her arms and lace straps that ran over her shoulders, revealing the light scar from her injury.

Meia smiled at him before slowly walking over to him as he stood up. The two shared a quick hug before Mobius noticed the scar on her shoulder.

"I'm fine" she told him after he gently ran his thumb over it.

Mobius looked into her eyes, "I was worried about you".

Meia blushed slightly, but kept smiling, "It'll take more than that to bring me down. I was trained by the best after all".

Mobius had a silent chuckle, but his smile quickly vanished as the two made eye contact again, "Meia…I don't know what I would do if I lost you".

Meia reached up and placed her hand on the side of his face, she couldn't see very well in the dark room, but she thought she could feel a tear coming from his eye as her finger passed under it. "You won't" she said to him, "I'll always be here".

Meia gently removed her circlet and placed it on her nightstand.

"Why do you wear that?" Mobius asked her.

"The same reason you keep that card with you" Meia told him, "It's both a lesson and a reminder". She then leaned toward him and closed her eyes as their lips met.

The two pilots kissed each other before lying on the bed. Mobius had his back against the wall and his right arm stretched out across the bed. Meia laid next to him and he wrapped his arm around her shoulders, holding her close to him.

After they both settled in, Meia held up her right hand and Mobius gently grabbed it with his left hand, "I love you Meia" he whispered to her.

Meia smiled at him once again, "And I love you Mobius, nothing will change that".

Mobius laid his head down and Meia rested hers against his and at long last they finally fell asleep, getting the rest they definitely deserved after such a hard battle.

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><p>Victory at all costs, victory in spite of all terror. Victory however long and hard the road may be; for without victory…there is no survival. –Winston Churchill.<p>

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><p><strong>AN.** And chapter 17 everybody, read, review, love.

We're almost done now only 1 more chapter to go and stage 1 of Vandread Mobius is complete. Now this is usually where I explain the delay, but I'll spare us all of that boring stuff.

Here we see Mobius and the crew of the Nirvana survive their toughest battle so far, everything looked like it was the end and they almost fell apart, but thanks to Dita and Hibiki everyone got their will to fight back.

Leona seems to have finally warmed up to Mobius and accepted his role on the Nirvana as well as her flight lead. And Mobius and Meia's relationship continues to grow will they really stay together as long as they say they will? And what did the people of Earth mean when they said Mobius is the one who caused everything?

These questions and more will be answered when Mobius and the crew return in VAAAAAAAAAAAANDREAD MOBIUS: STAGE 2!

Anyway I'm hitting Animazement in Raleigh NC next week, May 23 - 26 and I can't wait. I've been trying to go to this one for 3 years now and its finally happening. 1st Lieutenant Fae will be joining me there so we'll be sure to take lots of pictures for everyone and toss it up on youtube.

For now though hasta luego everyone. (See ya later)


	18. Dreams pt 3

There is never a time or place for true love. It happens accidentally, in a heartbeat, in a single flashing moment. - Sarah Dessen.

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><p>Mobius opened his eyes and slowly pushed himself up.<p>

"My head" he moaned, placing his hand against his forehead, "My entire body feels weak" he said as he grabbed the rail next to him and pulled himself up.

"When did I get on the elevator?" he asked himself before noticing the power to the elevator was out. "Great" he complained after pressing several buttons to no avail "Guess we're doing this the hard way".

Gripping at the edge of the elevator doors, Mobius planted his feet before slowly pulling back to force the doors open quickly sliding his foot between them once they parted and pushing the opposite door.

"There" he grunted as he slipped between the doors which closed behind him. "Now then" he said to himself as he turned around to see that the corridor was empty, "Where is everybody?"

Walking further down the corridor, Mobius suddenly began feeling weaker and dizzy as he turned the corner. The pilot grunted as he fell against the wall, he heard a swarm of overlapping voices in casual conversation. They sounded like they were right next to him, but there was no one else in the hall.

Pushing himself off the wall, Mobius lightly shook his head and kept walking, using the wall as a brace for each step, "What's going on?" he asked himself before spotting someone at the other end of the hall, "Hey!" he called over, but the person didn't respond or react to his call.

The lights in the hall began to dim as Mobius continued walking, the further he went the more the lights dimmed as if he was descending into darkness itself.

"Hey" he called again when he was only a few feet from the person, "What happened? Where is everyone?"

The woman he was talking to had long brunette hair that stopped just below her neck and she was wearing a white sailor style school uniform with a black skirt.

"Who are you?" Mobius asked as he tried to focus his blurred vision, but the girl giggled and ran away from him. "Hey!" he called before running after her.

As Mobius began chasing her everything began moving in slow motion, Mobius felt an overwhelming pain in the back of his head as he continued chasing the girl. She was still running, but she began moving slower and slower and the hallway seemed like it was narrowing and stretching out further.

"Hey! Wait!" Mobius called out again just before everything around him began shaking.

Once everything began shaking, the girl Mobius was chasing stopped and crouched down with he hands covering her head as if she was trying to take cover from something.

Trying to stay on his feet, Mobius continued to slowly get closer to the girl step by step until she fell to the floor and the shaking stopped.

Seeing the girl fall, Mobius immediately ran over to her and lifted her into his arms, "Hey are you alright?" he asked her before seeing her face.

"Cla…Claire" he whispered upon seeing the girl's face before he was hit by an invisible force that knocked him back.

Mobius heard a loud ringing in his ears as he opened his eyes, his vision was blurred over and the ringing in his ears was becoming painful as he got up.

"What the…" his vision quickly became normal again, but the ringing didn't stop. The emergency light in the corridor was on, illuminating the entire hall in a red light that flashed every few seconds, but when Mobius looked up his eyes widened.

There were bodies lying everywhere, the entire corridor was littered with the bodies of the crew. Mobius ran over to the closest body and lifted her into his arms, shaking her, "Hey what happened?"

The woman's head fell back as he shook her, it was clear that she was dead.

Gently setting her down Mobius looked down the hall, seeing how many of the crew were dead struck fear into the hardened pilot as he walked by them each of them completely lifeless.

The red emergency light continued to illuminate the corridor as Mobius walked through it, looking at each of the bodies as he passed them until he saw one he recognized.

"Leona!" he gasped running over to his squad mate and sliding to his knees as he reached her, "Leona! Leona!" he yelled shaking the woman's shoulder. Leona's head to the side, her eyes were still open making it appear as if she was gazing directly at Mobius.

Mobius lowered his head and allowed his hand to slide off her shoulder, "Dammit Leona…" seeing Leona's gun in her hand, Mobius took it and stood up and continued on without another word.

Approaching the end of the corridor, Mobius heard someone scream from the next hall and froze, "Meia" he muttered before readying the pistol he took from Leona.

Darting around the corner, the ringing in his ears finally stopped and the red light was replaced by a florescent blue that made the hallway look like it was filled with mist.

Mobius quickly turned around to look at the hall behind him, but it was gone replaced by a solid wall keeping him from going back.

"Who's Mobius?" a voice echoed from behind him.

Mobius turned around once again seeing a girl at the other end of the corridor; she was standing next to someone else.

"Shouldn't you know?" the second person said, "You're his sister after all".

"Claire?" Mobius muttered before zeroing in on the second person, "Meia?"

"He's Mobius to you maybe, but I don't know him by that name".

"What name do you know him by?"

The two of them looked over to Mobius and at the same time they both said, "The one who let me down".

"Let you down?" Mobius repeated before the hall began narrowing again and the two girl began walking away, turning transparent and vanishing.

"No" he said looking up to where the two of them were standing, "NO!" he ran after them, even though they vanished from sight he ran down the hoping to catch them.

The corridor continued to stretch further and further down as Mobius ran after Claire and Meia. Mobius began feeling lightheaded the more he ran each time his foot left the ground it felt like he was about to start floating.

Each step he took Mobius could hear voices echoing around him, cursing his name for letting them die.

"After all of that training you put me through you're just going to sit back and watch me die?" Hibiki's voice yelled.

Duelo's voice echoed around him next, "The numerous times I've helped you and you do nothing for me when I need your help".

"I guess you weren't as good as you thought you were" Barnette told him.

Mobius tripped and fell to his knees, but quickly jumped back up and kept running.

"You know your confidence was really attractive" Jura's voice said to him, "Of course that was before you left us all to die".

"Some ace pilot you turned out to be" Bart said as Mobius tripped again.

Once again Mobius jumped up just as Dita's voice cried, "Why? Why Mr. Mobius? I thought you cared about us, so why did you leave us to die?"

"You didn't even try to help us!" Yukiko yelled.

"You've always hated my sister admit it" Laura cried, "That's why you left her alone".

"You know me and the captain were really counting on you" BC said with a degrading voice, "I guess our trust was misplaced".

"I had a lot of respect for you Mobius" the captain's voice echoed, "All of which perished when you failed us".

"I opened up to you" Leona's voice said, her voice once again full of hate, "I should have known better than to trust a man. You talked a big game, but when it came time to prove your words you backed down. Some protector you turned out to be".

"When I first met you" 13's voice echoed, "I thought to myself that I could finally get to know the man who defeated me. To learn about the worthy pilot who shot down Yellow squadron alone. To think he'd turn out to be such a coward, I hope those things take you straight to hell where you belong".

The hallway stopped extending and stopped with a dead end, forcing Mobius to stop and turn around.

Once again the hallway had changed, the blue florescent light that filled the hall was replaced by a light purple that seemed to reflect off of the walls and floor and at the end of the hall he could see the Peksis glowing a bright red.

Mobius ran over to the Peksis and looked up at it, "What's going on here!?" he yelled at the crystal, "What have you done?"

The Peksis grew a brighter red and expelled a repelling force that knocked Mobius back. Feeling his back hit against the rail, Mobius looked over his shoulder; the solid wall that was behind him was now the rail of a catwalk.

Looking back at the Peksis, Mobius pushed off the railing, "Answer me! What did you do?"

Again the red light of the Peksis grew brighter before another force pushed Mobius back, "Damn you" the pilot growled, "I'm not going to let you do this. I won't let you hurt them I'll destroy you if you try!"

The light of the Peksis blinded Mobius and a third wave of force pushed him over the rail causing him to fall into the reactor below.

"Mobius help me!" Meia's voice cried.

"Meia!" Mobius gasped shooting up from the floor, ignoring the pain in his back, "Meia! Where are you?"

"Mobius!" Meia's voice called again from behind him.

Mobius turned around seeing a fork in the hall, "Meia!" he yelled seeing Meia backed into a corner by a shrouded figure, "Get away from her!" Mobius yelled before another voice yelled from the left side of the fork.

Quickly turning his head, Mobius saw Claire crouched down in the corner, "T…. Help me!"

"Claire" Mobius gasped before looking back to Meia still trapped by the shrouded figure.

"Mobius help me please" Meia called to him.

"T….please hurry" Claire cried, "I'm scared".

"What do I do?" Mobius asked himself desperately looking between the two of them, "I…I can save both of them can't I?" he thought.

"No!" Claire yelled as the ceiling began collapsing about to block Mobius' only way of getting to her.

"Claire!" Mobius yelled jumping toward her, but stopping when Meia called to him.

Mobius' heart began beating faster and his throat closed as he looked back to Meia and finally realized he couldn't save both of them. The two most important people to him and he had to let one of them go.

"I…I can't" he said taking a step back, "I can't leave either of them".

Claire was still crying as she looked up to Mobius and reached out her hand, "Please…I'm scared".

The ceiling was still slowly collapsing, blocking Mobius off little by little while the shrouded figure that trapped Meia continued to close in on her, he was out of time and had to make his choice now or lose both of them.

Mobius clenched his eyes shut, "Make it stop" he yelled, "I can't…I can't do this".

Hearing Meia cry his name again, Mobius opened his eyes and stood up.

Turning around, he slowly raised the gun he took from Leona and fired a single shot into the right shoulder of the shrouded figure making it flinch. The figure shrieked as the bullet hit it, but it quickly raised its arm ready to strike Meia.

Meia closed her eyes bracing herself for the hit, but the figure shrieked again as Mobius shot it a second time. Slowly advancing toward them, Mobius fired shot after shot as he got closer to them and with each step he could hear Claire behind him calling out to him.

Firing one last shot, the hammer of the pistol locked back and Mobius dropped the gun as the figure turned around to attack him instead.

When the figure turned around and raised its hand. Mobius forcefully planted his feet before he reared back and threw his fist forward punching the figure across its shadowy face causing it to vanish.

Meia was trembling as she looked at him tears streaming from her eyes as she lunged forward and threw her arms around him.

Mobius quickly wrapped his arms around her, holding her as close to him as he could, as he looked back to Claire as the ceiling collapsed all at once completely cutting him off from her. He could see the tears in her eyes as well; she was still reaching out to him as the debris finally trapped her.

"I'm sorry" Mobius said quietly, "I…I couldn't lose Meia to. Please Claire…forgive me".

Mobius calmly sat up and looked at the nightstand next to the bed, seeing Claire's tarot card resting next to Meia's circlet.

Mobius felt the blanket shift slightly and looked at Meia as she slowly pushed herself up and looked at him.

"Did you have another dream?" she asked him after seeing the empty look in his eyes, as if his very soul had left him.

Mobius looked away from her and nodded silently. He could feel Meia's hand rest against his bare shoulder; "Tell me" she gently asked him.

Mobius was silent for a few seconds before he began telling her about his dream.

"I see" Meia said when Mobius finished telling her, "So you chose to save Claire?" she asked him.

Mobius silently shook his head, "I chose you" his voice was different; it carried a deep sadness Meia had never heard from him before.

"Do you feel like you abandoned her?" Meia asked him.

Mobius shook his head again, "I don't know. I…I wanted to save both of you, but I wanted to see her again more than anything…even if I could only be with her for a few more seconds, even if it was just long enough to tell her I was sorry".

Mobius fell silent and Meia knew why, "You wanted to save her instead?"

Mobius closed his eyes, "I couldn't stand the thought of having to choose between the two of you. At that last moment I acted and I chose to save you". The ace pilot looked up at the ceiling and took a slow breath before lowering his head again, "I don't know why, but in that split second I realized that I couldn't lose you as well. Maybe I also realized that she was dead and choosing her wouldn't bring her back…whatever the reason I had to make a choice".

"It's ok" Meia told him, "It was just a dream".

"Its not just the dream Meia" Mobius told her, "Everyone except you and Claire were dead and I could hear all of them cursing my name for letting them die…that's when I realized that no matter how hard I try or how much I want to I can't save everyone…I couldn't save the two most important people to me I had to choose one of you. So how can I save everyone?"

"Who said you had to be the one to save everyone alone?" Meia asked him, "You have friends here who will help you and no matter what I'll never leave you alone. As long as you protect us we'll help you protect everyone else. Save one and they'll help you save the rest. That's what you taught me right? To work together with everyone else".

"I know you're right Meia" Mobius replied, "Its just hard sometimes".

Meia rubbed her hand over his shoulder, "And I'll be there to help you when it gets to hard just like you helped me when I needed it".

Mobius turned to look at her and a small smile appeared on his face, "As long as you stand next to me Meia, I know I can make it".

Meia smiled back at him and rested her head against his bare chest with a delicate grace. As her head rested against his chest, Mobius wrapped his arm around her and an overwhelming sense of warmth and belonging washed over both of them.

"I know I don't have to ask this" Meia said tilting her head up to look at her lover's eyes, "But when this is all will you stay here? With me?"

Mobius gently pushed her away from him and looked into her eyes, "Of course I will" he said as he grabbed her hand.

As he grabbed her hand Meia looked into his eyes and her free hand moved to cover his, gently grabbing it and holding it close to her chest.

Mobius' smile faded as Meia held his hand against her chest; he looked away for her and took a silent, deep breath. "Meia…You'll stay with me right?"

Surprised by the sudden question, Meia looked up to him, "Of course I will. I love you".

"Tell me something" Mobius began without looking at her, "Are…" he paused to collect himself and take another breath, "Do you have weddings on Mejere?"

"What do you mean?" Meia asked him.

"I know Mejere doesn't have any men on it, but when people fall in love on Mejere do they get married?"

Meia's face began heating up and her heart began racing as she began thinking of what he was asking her, "Ye…Yes…why?"

Mobius took another breath as he looked back into her eyes, "When this is all over…will you marry me?"

Meia froze, she could no longer feel her heart beating or the choking feeling in her throat as Mobius' question echoed in her mind. She was only silent for a minute, but to Mobius it felt like days.

"Yes" she answered silently in a shaking tone as she grabbed his hand again, "I want to be with you no matter what happens" she lifted his hand and held it with both of hers as she stared into his eyes, "As long as I'm with you I'll be happy".

Mobius smiled at her again, "As long as I have you with me Meia I know I won't lose".

Mobius leaned closer to her and Meia closed her eyes just before their lips met. Wrapping her arms around his neck Meia held him closer and like she did each time before, she prayed for the moment to never end. To stay with the man who saved her life, the man she loved knowing that she was safe in his arms and that she would always be happy with him.

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><p>The best thing to hold onto in life is each other - Audrey Hepburn.<p>

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><p><strong>AN.** And so it ends, the final chapter of Vandread Mobius stage 1. 21 months, 1 year and 9 months and stage 1 is finally over.

I wanted to end stage 1 a little differently with a special chapter focusing purely on Mobius and Meia's relationship and with this installment we close our curtain and prepare ourselves for stage 2.

Thanks to everyone who has read and stayed with me so far on this and a special thanks to Vader23A who originally came up with the idea for Vandread/Ace Combat crossovers and another special thanks to 1st Lieutenant Fae for joining in.

Well see you all next time when I re open with Vandread Mobius: Stage 2


End file.
